Picnickers visiting Juhu beach this weekend to catch a glimpse of the MV Wisdom will be a disappointed lot, as the cargo vessel was successfully towed away from the beach on Saturday afternoon.
The salvors on Saturday started their operation from 6.30 am by sending a messenger rope and tow ropes. The ropes were tied to the tug Smit Lumba by 9 am. The salvers decided to try to tow the ship away then and there, and it turned out to be successful on the very first attempt.
“The MV Wisdom was refloated safely on Saturday at 12.45 pm by SMIT, a Singapore-based salvage company, with the help of two powerful tugs,” read a statement released by the directorate-general of shipping.
The ship is currently being taken to the Mumbai outer anchorage where it will remain till an enquiry into the ship’s running aground at Juhu beach is completed. Only after this will the 9,000-tonne cargo vessel be permitted to be towed to the ship-breaking yard at Alang in Gujarat. The ongoing enquiry is expected to be concluded within a fortnight. “It is interesting that the negotiations between the salvors and the cargo vessel owners were wrapped up so quickly last night, not to mention the fact that despite a high tide of over 4.5 metres starting from Sunday, the salvors still managed to refloat the ship a day before,” said Captain Deepak Shetty, joint director-general of shipping.
As reported by this newspaper on Saturday, till Friday, the salvors and owners were negotiating on the cost of the salvage operation and its duration if attempt don’t yield results.