VIBHA VERMA
vibha@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The grounded offshore casino vessel M V Lucky 7 is drawing crowds to Miramar beach, and its promoter Golden Globe Hotels Pvt Ltd (GGHPL) attracting censure for having ignored warnings by Captain of Ports (CoP).
The haste in bringing the massive ship into River Mandovi, despite counsel not to do so led to the crisis. For the last 24 days, the partially dented and rusted vessel has remained stranded on Miramar beach, while Arihant Ship Breakers is making attempts to refloat and tow it into deep waters. It is now waiting for a high tide on a calm day to pull it to deep sea.
This situation could have been different, if the casino firm had paid heed to the CoP warning not to sail till mid-September. The ship would probably not have got grounded on the shores of Miramar.
Sources told Herald that CoP had warned that it was dangerous to even attempt to bring the vessel before September 15 considering that there are restrictions on the depths at Aguada Bay during the monsoon, due to the formation of a sand bar. The firm, however, paid no heed to this advice.
“The vessel moved from a major port (Mormugao Port Trust) to come to a minor port (in Panjim), which remains closed during the monsoon. But it wanted to come as a refuge vessel and based on the submission of GGHPL, the High Court asked CoP to inspect the vessel and the tugs to ensure compliance,” said an official. Sources told Herald that in its communiqué with the GGHPL
earlier, CoP had raised safety issues.
The firm, however, failed to meet the specifications for one of the tugs. However, the firm’s legal team assured to enter River Mandovi and dock at its designated location off Campal at its own cost and risk.
Sources said the firm assured to accept all responsibilities during the towing exercise from MPT to Panjim port. But disaster awaited it soon after it left MPT and sailed towards Panjim on July 13. The vessel was forced to anchor off Cabo Raj Bhavan due to bad weather and rough seas. The ropes of the tugs, assisting the vessel, parted. One of the two anchors broke and the vessel drifted towards the beach. “The port anchor broke but luckily the starboard anchor was intact,” said the source. The vessel initially blocked the river channel and while repeated attempts were made to safely tow the vessel to the river, it instead landed where it is now.
It is a potential threat to the beach and surrounding environment as attempts to move the vessel to the deep sea have failed. “It is definitely causing harm to the environment. It is absolute criminal negligence as the vessel was allowed to come in from safe mooring at MPT out into the monsoon sea, and in the total confusion at Aguada sand bar endangering lives of the sailors on board,” activist Anand Madgavkar said.
The authenticity of the vessel’s details have been raised by former NIO Technical Officer Stephen Dias seeking to know whether the vessel had some other name. “Since photographic evidence shows that the wording “LUCKY SEVEN” has been painted in a hurry by a non skilled painter is this vessel really LUCKY SEVEN or LUCKY 5? It is for the authorities to take note of the matter and inspect. It is also noticed that the vessel is very rusty,” he said after a personal inspection at the site.
