Visakhapatnam: More than 500 passengers were stranded on a merchant ship off Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal since Tuesday night, officials said.

Shipping Corporation of India Limited operates MV Harshavardhana merchant vessel, which is a regular passenger ship plying between Port Blair, and Chennai (1,190 km), Kolkata (1,255 km) and Visakhapatnam (1,200 km). It sails twice in a month.

“There are 506 passengers and 50 crew members on board MV Harshavardhana, which sailed for the Andaman from here at 1.35 pm on Tuesday. Six hours later, the ship halted due to a technical snag and has been stuck in the sea since then,” said the port officials.

With turbulence in the sea, the passengers panicked and some of them contacted the media.

An official of the Visakhapatnam district administration said: “One of the four generators is not functioning, which resulted in the ship coming to a halt. Efforts are being made to repair the generator.” He said all passengers were safe and they were being provided food and water.

Authorities at the Shipping Corp of India hope the ship will resume its journey soon. The duration of the journey by ship from Visakhapatnam to Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is about 70 hours.

Source: IANS