It's land ahoy, as ships unload quake relief

It's land ahoy, as ships unload quake relief
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

FEBRUARY 19: The International Fleet Review may be over but for many of the warships berthed at Mumbai harbour it's still all hands on deck--- unloading the few hundred tonnes of relief material for the earthquake victims.

A few hundred tonnes of food and medicine were being lifted from the state-of-the-art RSS Endurance, a tank landing ship from Singapore. The consignment was stacked amidst other military harware in the 6,000 tonnes displacement vessel.

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Speaking to Newsline, Lieutenant Colonel Sukhvinder Singh Chopra, Commanding Officer of RSS Endurance said that the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has handed over medical supplies worth US $ 20,000 to the Indian Navy for the quake hit victims. The ship is also carrying 17 tonnes of rice, food and clothing for the survivors, Chopra added.

Incidentally, Chopra is the first officer of Indian origin to command a RSN ship, which took part in the IFR. ``It is a honour to command a ship like RSS Endurance,'' remarked Lt Col Chopra.

Similar operations were being carried out onboard the South African ship Drakensberg and the Japanese JDS Amagiri. Both the vessels were carrying blankets and food for the quake-hit victims at Gujarat.

``We collected the consignment within a very short time and set sail from the Port of Durban,'' recalled Lieutenant Lisa Hendraik onboard Drakensberg.

Some of the other ships which berthed at Indira Docks were the 8000 tonnes displacement anti-submarine ships Admiral Vinogradov and Admiral Panteleev of the Russian Federation Navy. The vessels are also fitted with anti-aircraft missile systems, 100 mm caliber guns and 30 mm Gatting close-in weapons guns.

Speaking onboard Admiral Vinogradov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation Navy Admiral Vladmir Kuroyedov said his navy has drawn up a 10 year plan for modernising the fleet. The plan includes cooperating with the Indian Navy in the field of sharing educational programmes and training between the two navies, said Kuroyedov.

Admiral Kuroyedov hinted that joint exercise between the two navies are also on the cards. Details of the programmes will be worked out by his Indian counterpart, he added.

Meanwhile, the sailors of the visiting ships went on a shopping binge this evening. Most of them were seen carrying footware, garments and soveniers as they entered the naval dockyard through the Tiger Gate.

Most of the sailors told this newspaper that they were moved by Indian hospitality. Especially, the efforts taken by the Navy to host such a great event.