INS TEG LENDS ASSISTANCE TO MV VELA IN THE GULF OF ADEN

On August 25, 2018, whilst patrolling in the piracy infested waters of Gulf of Aden, INS Teg, a warship of the Western Naval Command, received a call from a Combined Task Force aircraft for providing assistance to MV Vela, a Norwegian owned ship with an all Indian crew. The vessel was in distress as her Port Anchor along with the entire 330 mtrs cable weighing approx 42 tons had inadvertently slipped and was hanging into the sea. This had severely disabled the ship with her speed being restricted to 5-6 knots, thus making her vulnerable to piracy attacks, apart from being a navigational hazard for herself as well as for other ships in the dense shipping corridor.

INS Teg quickly dispatched a specialist team to carry out an assessment of the situation and provided assistance for recovery of the anchor and cable. Concerted efforts over three days finally resulted in the successful recovery of the anchor alongwith the entire 330 m of cable.