Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 08 August 2022
A large barge was found beached at Great Nicobar recently near the mouth of the Galathea River. The barge is of the kind which is used for carrying construction materials such as sand, boulders etc. in bulk. Usually, such barges are towed from one place to another by a Tug Boat.
Sources informed Nicobar Times that authorities from Andaman and Nicobar Police and the Indian Coast Guard conducted a joint inspection of the beached barge and found it empty. The authorities were reportedly successful in identifying the barge and tracking its owner.
The barge reportedly belongs to someone from the Maldives. Sources also informed that the barge was reported missing from the Maldives in the end of June 2022. Authorities reportedly spoke to the owner of the barge in Maldives and he has agreed to take back his barge from Great Nicobar Island.
It is interesting to note that Male, the Capital of Maldives and Great Nicobar Island is more than 2000 Km apart. The barge floated for more than 2000 Kms in about 1.5 months to reach the shores of Great Nicobar Island.
The news of the beached barge created a lot of interest among the locals.
Barges like the one found beached at Great Nicobar Island also transports construction materials to Great Nicobar Islands from nearby countries.
Interestingly two such barges recently visited Great Nicobar with sand for construction purposes.
Great Nicobar Island lies just above a major shipping lane which is used for transportation of a significant amount of the world’s cargo.
The entery, floating for more than a month,large in size of a cargo barge leave question on sea and air patrolling by our Naval, Coast Gaurd ships and helicopters to watch poaching in Andaman Sea and Territorial water. However, a thorough investigation needs about such long distance movement in the sea with change of wind direction during this period and also to find bottlenecks in our patrolling.