Daijiworld Media Network - Kaup (EP)
Kaup, May 16: In a second incident of its kind in about 24 hours, another tugboat was damaged after hitting into rocks here on Sunday, May 16.
The boat was anchored outside the New Mangalore Port. The boat that was damaged due to the storm reached Kaup later.
The police department and the coast guard officials are trying to bring it back safely to Kaup light house.
It may be recalled that a tugboat named Alliance had capsized on Saturday May 15, causing the death of one person, while four are still missing.
"There were nine people in the boat. They are four kilometres away from the shore. They will be rescued this afternoon and brought to the shore," said Coast Guard police SP Chetan.
Those who were in the boat had requested the coast guard through video recording for help. The tugboat belongs to the Kirosh company. The boat stopped a little away from the Kaup lighthouse after hitting rocks.
Udupi additional DC Sadashiva Prabhu, Udupi district SP N Vishnuvardhan, company officials, Coast Guard, navy and police department officials stationed at the spot are monitoring the operations.
The boat was scheduled to enter NMPT port on on Saturday May 15 afternoon. But as the cyclone intensified, the boat crew sought permission to enter the port before the scheduled time, but they were denied, as per sources. Due to the intensity of the cyclone, the boat anchor got damaged and drifted towards Kaup, the sources said.