Pics: Sphoorty Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network-Mangalore(RS)
 
Mangalore, Dec 29: Smith Salvage Company from Singapore has begun salvaging and plugging of oil vents from the sunken ship Motor Vessel Asian Forest from today, said Deputy Commissioner of the district V Ponnuraj on Tuesday December 29.
 
Speaking to the media  after a power point presentation by the Smith Salvage company at the Deputy Commissioner’s office on removing of oil and plugging of oil vents from the sunken ship, he said that the salvage company from Singapore will conduct the operation and finish the work in 36 days. The company will adopt the Top Tap method which ensures that no oil will spill into the  sea during the operation, he added.
 
The salvage works were postponed many times earlier.  But after several combined efforts by the Deputy Commissioner’s office and the Department of Shipping , the PNI Club Insurance Company, the insurers of the ship has appointed the Smith Salvage company to perform the operation.

 
The ship which began her voyage on July  17, 2009, from New Mangalore Port, sank on July 18 after it suffered technical faults and  faced bad weather. The ship was loaded with iron ore and was moving towards Zhavgjiagang in China.   
 
Ten  crew members out of the 18 were recently freed and allowed to travel to China. The crew was put up in a hotel in the city after the incident . Other crew members are likely to be freed soon, as per the deputy commissioner’s office information.