Ship inferno meets match in IAF chopper’s ‘Bambi’ move

KOLKATA: An Indian Air Force (IAF) Mi-17 V5 helicopter from Air Force Station Barrackpore finally succeeded in dousing the MV SSL Kolkata fire by Sunday evening. The helicopter, commanded by Wg Cdr Nikhil Mehrotra, operated under extremely trying conditions and poured some 15,000 litres of water on the containers that were burning on the ship’s deck.The helicopter used a contraption known as a ‘Bambi’ bucket slung underneath to pour water on the blaze.

The ship, carrying containers from Krishnapatnam to Kolkata, reported a fire shortly before midnight on Wednesday. After their efforts to control the blaze failed, the 22-member crew abandoned ship on Thursday morning and were rescued by Indian Coast Guard Ship Rajkiran. Later, the ship drifted nearly 28km northeast towards the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). On Saturday, the Navy dropped a marine commando and three mariners on the ship deck and they succeeded in anchoring it barely 18km short of the IMBL, about 12km from the jurisdictional limits of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT).
“The ship’s owners arranged for experts from SMIT Salvage, Singapore to salvage the ship. The experts attempted to reach the spot in two tugs hired from KoPT but couldn’t do so due to heavy shoaling. After bumping into a few sandbars, the tugs returned. A salvage tug has been requisitioned but it will have to approach from the sea. As the fire was still raging and there was a risk of the wing tanks of the ship catching fire, Directorate General of Shipping got in touch with IAF to explore the possibility of using helicopters to douse the flame,” a KoPT official said.
According to K S Sheoran, IG and commander, Coast Guard Region (North East), the salvage team also surveyed the situation in a Dornier aircraft later in the day and prepared of approaching the ship again on Monday.
“We received a call at 8.40am and all resources at Barrackpore were activated. Wg Cdr Mehrotra with Flt Lt Atul Mishra had flown several offshore missions and took off from Barrackpore at 12.32pm for Frasergunj Harbour. The helicopter landed at 1.15pm and prepared for ‘Bambi’ operations. It then took off by 2.15pm, flew offshore and located the ship. Assessing the wind pattern in the area and the water’s point of impact, Wg Cdr Mehrotra flew six shuttles and poured water on the ship. The entire planning was undertaken by Wg Cdr Shiv Kumar,” a senior IAF official said.
Commodore Suprobho K De, naval OC, West Bengal, noted that anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kadmatt remained at the spot throughout and provided necessary support to the helicopter.