Nine rescued from sinking tug in Bay of Bengal

The Indian Coast Guard successfully rescued all nine crewmembers of a tug that suffered water ingress while sailing in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday, June 23.

Two coast guard patrol boats came to the aid of the tug Ganga 1 after its crew sent out a distress call reporting flooding in their vessel’s engine room.

The tug was 30 nautical miles south of Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands when the distress call was sent.

The nine tug crewmen were brought aboard the two coast guard boats. One crewman suffered an injured leg and was later brought to hospital in Port Blair.

Ganga 1 was taken under tow by another vessel but subsequently sank while in transit.

The tug was towing a barge laden with construction materials and sailing from Port Blair to Little Andaman Island when the flooding occurred.