Mumbai: A merchant ship collided with an Indian Coast Guard vessel off the Mumbai Coast on Tuesday but no one was injured. (
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The mishap occurred around 5 pm near the Mumbai Port when the merchant ship rammed into a stationary Coast Guard vessel undergoing repair, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Port Zone) M Kohe said.
He said 59 people, all crew members of Coast Guard Ship Vivek, were rescued or swam to safety. The cause behind the collision involving merchant ship 'Global Purity' was being investigated.
Kohe said the Coast Guard ship developed cracks because of the impact, tilted on one side and began sinking. ICGS Vivek was a 20 year-old platform inducted into the Coast Guard on August 19, 1989.
Kohe said efforts were on to plug the cracks in the Coast Guard ship and pump out the water gushing inside.
An FIR has been lodged with the Yellow Gate police station in south Mumbai and investigation is on, he said.
The 74x12 m Coast Guard vessel was anchored when the merchant ship crashed into it.