A timely help from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in locating wreck of a sunken Navy vessel in Bay of Bengal has come in for praise from the Indian Navy which commended the firm’s promptness and thorough professionalism in the task.

The Navy had sought the assistance of RIL, which has huge offshore operations in Bay of Bengal, for carrying out underwater videography of the torpedo recovery vessel (TRV) that sank off Visakhapatnam on November 6, a mishap in which one sailor was killed and four personnel are still unaccounted for.

Vice Admiral Satish Soni last month wrote to RIL to convey “sincere appreciation” for RIL’s prompting deploying its MV Olympic Canyon vessel for locating the sunken Torpedo Recovery Vessel (TRV-72).

Soni, sources aware of the development said, praised “the promptness and thorough professionalism” demonstrated by RIL team.

While reaffirming Navy’s commitment to safeguarding the nation’s offshore assets, he thanked RIL for the “selfless and unconditional support” rendered and looked forward to continued association in future.

“The Indian Navy had sought the assistance of Reliance Industries in undertaking underwater videography of TRV 72 wreck by utilising a remotely operated vessel (ROV) today, November 18. MV Olympic Canyon, a chartered vessel of Reliance Industries for offshore work in the Krishna—Godavari Basin is capable of operating this ROV up to 1,000 metres depth.

“Videography by the ROV commenced this morning and was completed by the evening. The wreck of TRV 72 has been observed to be in upright position in about 370 metres depth of water. It is now planned to analyse the captured video footage and determine further course of action,” the Navy had said in a statement last month.

comment COMMENT NOW