In a daring operation, the Indian Navy today succeeded in anchoring a burning merchant ship off the Sagar Island in West Bengal at the mouth of the Ganges Delta.

Flag Officer Commanding- in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Karambir Singh directed that the burning ship's drift towards the Sundarbans delta had to be stopped at all costs, notwithstanding the high temperatures onboard the merchant vessel, to avoid an ecological disaster should the ship capsize on the sandbanks causing pollution from oil on board.

A Seaking 42 C helicopter of Navy this morning winched down one marine commando officer on the ill-fated merchant vessel, SSL KOLKATA, which had been on fire for the last two days and was abandoned by the 22 crew members, a statement issued by the Indian Defence Ministry said.

The marine commando officer ascertained the conditions in the forward part of the burning ship and later called in the helicopter to lower onboard three crew members on the ship. 

The team managed to drop the starboard anchor from the ship to prevent the vessel from drifting any further. Thereafter, the team prepared the seamanship gear for the ship to be towed if required, the statement said.

The nature of the threat to the operation was evident from the explosion onboard in the forenoon which restarted the fire. The helicopter skillfully recovered all four members of the team and was returning to the base for turnaround.

The operation successfully managed to prevent further drift of the ship to enable salvage operations, added the statement.