INS Sarvekshak, a Survey Ship of Indian Navy arrived in the Colombo Port on Thursday. The ship, equipped with the state of the art survey equipment including the Side Scan Sonar, would assist in the Survey efforts being undertaken in vicinity of the ill-fated MV X-Press Pearl off Colombo, a press release issued by the Indian High Commission said..
The release further said that INS Sarvekshakwas deployed upon a formal request from the Government of Sri Lankan to ensure safety of navigation in area outside the Colombo harbour.
The release added
“The joint survey operations would have the coordinated participation of the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA), Sri Lanka Navy and Indian Navy.
A coordination meeting was conducted on 25 June 2021 to discuss further plan of the survey. The meeting was attended by Prof. A Navaratneraja, Chairman NARA, Dr. H.M.P. Kithsiri, Director General NARA, Captain Vikas Sood, Defence Adviser at High Commission of India in Sri Lanka and CaptWijesooriya from the Sri Lanka Navy.
MV X-Press Pearl which caught fire on 20 May 2021 was reportedly carrying 1,486 containers out of which large numbers fell into the sea before the fire was doused after an extensive India-Sri Lanka joint operation as part of Operation Sagar Aaraksha 2.
Many institutions like the UN, UNEP as well as officials from the Government of Sri Lanka have assessed that the containers that fell off the ship pose a grave concern to the livelihood of the fisherman community staying along the western coast of Sri Lanka as also to safety of navigation of marine traffic operating through Colombo port.”
4. In continuation of Operation SagarAaraksha 2, the joint Survey Operations would assist in restoring safe navigation in the area and compliment India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy that calls for, amongst other things, swift support in mitigating such calamities in the Indian Ocean Region.
