Anchored catamaran sinks in Mandovi, raises safety concerns

Panaji: A fibreglass catamaran left unattended in the Mandovi river sank on Thursday morning. The vessel, valued at around Rs 2 crore, was listing for several days due to the heavy showers and defunct bilge pumps.This is the third incident this year involving an anchored vessel, raising questions about the monitoring and competency of the Captain of Ports (CoP) department, which certifies and monitors vessels operating in Goa’s inland waterways.A person in the know said the owners of the catamaran failed to keep a skeletal crew aboard the vessel. “The presence of a crew would have ensured that the bilge pumps were working.

This incident could have been prevented,” the person said.Barge owners expressed concern over the lax monitoring of vessels moored or anchored along the main river canal. “Due to inclement weather, such vessels can break away from their anchor and drift towards the middle of the channel. We saw this happen when a similar boat caught fire and drifted across the river, finally colliding into another vessel on the other side of the bridge.

The CoP department allowed it to happen due to a lack of proper supervision and monitoring of inland vessels.The authorities need to wake up and take these risks into account. This vessel was not seaworthy and was not surveyed or inspected even when it was listing,” said a barge operator.The sunken catamaran, which the current owner recently purchased from another boat operator, had no navigation lights even though it was parked very close to the main channel used by iron ore-laden barges, yachts, river cruise vessels, fishing trawlers, and coastal security patrol boats.Salvaging the vessel will be complex, and the owner will have to wait till low tide to survey the damage and decide on the salvage process, said sources.