On April 4th, 2017, the Sri Lanka Navy sent two Fast Attack Craft (FAC) to assist MSC ‘Daniela’, a containership caught by a fire off Colombo harbor.
Upon reaching the ship, about 33 nautical miles off Colombo harbor, P 436 and P 412 craft joined Sri Lankan Port Authority tugs, Rawana and Maha Wewa, which were fighting with the fire.
FAC mission was to immediately evacuate MCS Daniela’s crew if the fire spreads, as the Sri Lanka Navy said : “The two tugs are expected to douse the flames while the two FAC directed for immediate evacuation of the ship’s crew in the eventuality of spread of fire.”
In addition, the Indian Navy had also directed two of their ships INS ‘Darshak’ and INS ‘Garriel’ to the location. In the similar vein, three more SLN FACs were dispatched on scene for the evacuation of 21 crew members in a situation of the fire spreading, endangering the safety and life of the crew.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force also joined hands, providing a ‘Bell 212’ helicopter augmenting the combined firefighting efforts. The Indian Coast Guard further extended its assistance providing the ‘Chetak’ helicopter to the distress response efforts.
Naval Today Staff