Gandhinagar: Four days after 17 containers slipped from the vessel MV Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Monday spotted one container floating in the sea near Okha.
"Five containers have landed off Mandavi taluka coast and two at Dhol Pir, while one was spotted today floating off Okha coast during our surveillance," an ICG official told reporters.
The remaining nine, the agency believes, might have sunk as they were not airtight.
"The Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS), in Gulf of Kutch, is being informed regularly about the position of the floating container spotted by us and it is issuing alerts to the ships," the official said.
An alert has been sounded in Gujarat for the ships approaching Gulf of Kutch, a major corridor for oil imports, after 17 containers slipped from the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) vessel MV Rajiv Gandhi on June 27.
Meanwhile, state port regulator GMB has issued directives to Okha port officer to deploy government tugs to remove the wreckage of the container spotted near the port as it could enter deep root channel posing threat to vessel movement.
"Port officer of Okha has been directed to deploy government tugs to remove the wreckage of containers spotted floating near the port, as it poses danger to vessel movement," Chief Nautical Officer GMB S C Mathur said.
"The SCI has given verbal assurance that it would deploy salvagers to remove floating containers," he said.
PTI
