Tuesday, November 25, 2008

PIRATES OF THE HOOGLY-India

PIRATES OF THE HOOGLY......

Tug boat GAJ as seen from the porthole of M.V.Akbar
M.V.Harshavardan in the international water of the Bay of Bengal
A cargo vessel sailing towards the Sea in the hoogly waters

Sea Pirates often target merchant vessels.When I boarded a passenger ship M.V.Harshavardan for PortBlair few  years back,the ship was anchored on the Hoogly River waiting for the tide.Suddenly in the wee hours of the night sirens and announcements inside the ship woke me up.Crew members were running here and there.After a while the sounds subdued..I mustered courage and went to the deck,where a crew member was sitting and smoking..I enquired about the sounds, he told me that some armed men entered the ship  using ropes and threatening with swords and broken bottles ,they broke open the store room and fled with the bundles of new big sized ropes valued more than one and half lakhs of  rupees.Security and safety measures for the passenger ships plying from the mainland to the islands also should be considered at this point of time.

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