Pavit exposes chinks in coastal security

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday,Agnihotri said assuming the vessel was drifting at an average speed of two nautical miles an hour and given that the exclusive economic zone of the country extends 200 nautical miles off the coast,the unmanned 999-tonne tanker went undetected for nearly 100 hours as currents and wind brought it towards Mumbai.

The Panama-flagged MT Pavit also went undetected as it entered the territorial waters of the country 12 nautical miles from shore. Surprisingly,no passing ship reported a vessel without lights,though reporting suspicious vessels is at an all-time high following the spurt in attacks by Somali pirates.

“We will now try to set up a detection system that is foolproof even in inclement weather,” said the DG. A key technological solution being studied is to superimpose two sets of information — data from the radar chain being set up along the coast and information reported by ships. Ships on the radar that are yet to report their presence will then be easy to locate and identify.

Unlike MV Wisdom,which was detected well in time after its tug cable snapped,the command centre of the DG Shipping received information about the approaching MT Pavit only on Sunday morning. Authorities were not on alert regarding MT Pavit as it had been reported sunk after its crew was rescued a month ago,Agnihotri said. If local fishermen had indeed spotted the vessel earlier and reported it to the police,any communication gap will be investigated,he added.

Meanwhile,a cursory inspection of the vessel has found it to be in “okay” condition. It was found to be floating during Tuesday’s high tide around 1.30 pm,indicating that its hull was intact and there was no fuel leakage. “Therefore,chances of it being refloated are higher. There is no oil pollution so far,” Agnihotri said,adding that as the vessel was in fair condition and resting on a sand bed,oil spill appeared unlikely.