Captain K N Reddy

Vessel name : SAMUDRIKA 10.

Year of accident July,2007

The vessel was on VHF/SSB conversation with ONGC radio station around 0930 hrs IST. Master informed Radio officer on duty at ONGC that Aft peak tank and steering gear room are flooded and water is gushing into ER and also there was cargo theft and requested “save life of my crew”. The ships who were hearing the conversation were shocked, because ONGC authorities did not take any protective action, but the OSV’s near by came for rescue operation. Out of 17 crew, 9 including Master died, since the vessel sank around 1030 hrs.

It was found that the Master did not order for abandoning the ship and also crew were not instructed to wear life jackets. Also instructions were not given to prepare life rafts etc. The designated person on shore was questioned and since this is major non compliance of ISM, the DOC was cancelled for the company.