John Wilbert & Saurabh Singh
Port Blair, Sep 09: Last month on 07th August 2022 a huge Berge was found at Galatia River, Campbell Bay which was grounded at the mouth of the river. On investigation, the Police and other intelligence bureau found that the Deck cargo Barge namely Olympic Telen belonged to an Indian Thoothukudi Company which was on lease from the Middle East Marine LLC Dubai Company for delivering materials to the Maldives and was lost in June.
Initially, the Dubai based Company hired help from Port Blair and tried to tow the Barge but was unsuccessful. The team of Port Blair consisted of two fishing boats and nearly 20 people. Further, the company hired a Campbell Bay-based transport company namely USR Transport and after two days of struggle they successfully recovered the Barge and handed over it to the company.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, Mr. U Sita Ram, Proprietor, USR Transport said that they formed a team of 15 people and equipment with around 01 km rope, 03 Chain pulleys of 05 tones, two Halish Dinghy and one excavator. He informed that the Barge was taken out during the high tides and was pulled by the Dinghys and by the night of 26th August 2022 it was completely moved from the Galatia River and was anchored near Gandhi Nagar Jetty. During the entire operation Coast Gaurd vessel was kept standby for ensuring safety of all, it is learnt.
It was reported that due to the massive size of the Barge it is not possible for small tug boats to tow the Barge into the open sea. Therefore, another company is hired to toe the Barge which reached Campbell Bay and the Barge is now being towed to Port Blair.
