Lok Sabha Question No. 134 (STARRED), answered on 2016-11-24
Subject: Accidents on Indian Waters
Ministry: SHIPPING
Asked by: NAGARAJAN P.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SHIPPING

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO.134

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  NOVEMBER, 2016

## ACCIDENTS ON INDIAN WATERS

## *134.   SHRI P. NAGARAJAN:

Will the Minister of SHIPPINGbe pleased to state:

## पोतप�रवहनमंत्

- (a) whether accidents involving Indianships/vessels on sea water/Indian water andNational Waterways have been reported,and if so, the details thereof during the lastthree years and the current year;
- (b) the loss of life and property as aresult thereof;
- (c) the rescue and relief mechanism inplace;
- (d) the number of domestic andinternational ships/vessels which sunk during the said period; and
- (e) whether the Government proposesto upgrade and fine tune the rescue and relief operation, and if so, the detailsthereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SHIPPING (SHRI PON. RADHAKRISNAN)

(a)to(e): A Statement is laid on the table of the house.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 134 FOR 24.11.2016 REGARDING ACCIDENTS ON INDIAN WATERS

- (a) (i)   Details of the marine accidents reported under section 358 of Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 as amended from time to time involving Indian flag ships/vessels at sea/ Indian waters during the last three years and the current year are as under:-
- (ii)No accidentinvolving Indian cargo ship/vessel has been reported in the National Waterways in the last three years and the current year.
- (b)  (i)      Details  of  incidents  involving  loss  of  life  and  property  reported  under  section  358  of Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 in sea water/Indian water are as under:-
- (ii)No  loss  of  life  and  property  has  been  reported  in  the  National  Waterways  during  the  last three years and current year.
- (c):Details of the rescue and relief mechanism in place are:-
- (i) The Directorate General of Shipping has 24/7 communication centre where informationwith  regard  to  any  marine  casualty  on  or  near  the  coast  of  India  of  any Indianship is required to be reported in accordance with the section 358 of the MerchantShipping Act, 1958, as amended.
- (ii)Immediately on receipt of a report, the information related to such accident is   forwarded to the concerned Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center (MRCC) of the   Indian Coast Guard which has been mandated to coordinate National maritime Search   and Rescue (SAR) objectives. Director General, Coast Guard is the National Maritime Search and Rescue Coordinating Authority (NMSARCA).
- (iii) There  is  an  International  Convention  on  Search  and  Rescue  [SAR  Convention]adopted internationally in the year 1979. India is a party to the said Convention.
- (iv)  As far as National Waterways are concerned, Inland Waterways Authority ofIndia (IWAI) deploys multipurpose Tugs (MPT) onNational Waterways forrescue and relief operations.
- (d) Number of domestic and international  ships/vessels  which  sunk  in  the  Sea  Water/Indian Water during the last three years and the current year is as under:-

|   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |   2016(till 31 st October.) |
|--------|--------|--------|-----------------------------|
|     38 |     20 |      8 |                          21 |

|                  |   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 (till 31 st October |
|------------------|--------|--------|--------|----------------------------|
| Loss of life     |     05 |     06 |     01 |                         01 |
| Loss of Property |     23 |     11 |     07 |                         13 |

|                     |   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |   2016(till 31 st October) |
|---------------------|--------|--------|--------|----------------------------|
| Domestic ships      |      3 |      1 |      0 |                          1 |
| International ships |      2 |      0 |      1 |                          1 |

(e) To  upgrade  and  fine  tune  the  rescue  and  relief  operation,  Indian  Coast  Guard  (ICG) conducts exercises, the outcome  of which is incorporated into their Standard Operating Procedures/training programmes.  As far as National Waterways are concerned, there is adequate existing arrangement to meet the contingencies of rescue and relief operations.

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