A crew member suffering severe stomach pain and blood in his urine was evacuated from the LPG tanker MV Nexor near Vizhinjam port on Monday and taken to SP Medifort hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was reported to be stable.
The Indian national, Mohammad Bariz Ansari, is a junior engineer who had joined the Equatorial Guinea-flagged vessel for duty in Sri Lanka. The tanker had sailed from Singapore to Sri Lanka and was anchored near Colachel while awaiting instructions for its onward voyage. The voyage was delayed because of the high-risk situation in the Persian Gulf.
Ansari had been experiencing pain for several days before his condition became severe. The ship’s captain sent a distress call to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Mumbai on Sunday night, requesting a medical evacuation. MRCC Mumbai transferred the request to Vizhinjam for local coordination.
Manoj Nair of Waterline Shipping, which coordinated the operation with the vessel owner, the Coast Guard and port authorities, said the ship was instructed to sail closer to Vizhinjam. A Coast Guard vessel then met the tanker at the outer anchorage and transferred Ansari for further assistance.
The Kerala Maritime Board tug Dhwani was kept on standby during the operation. Staff attended to Ansari on the Coast Guard vessel before moving him to SP Medifort, with which the coordinating agency has a memorandum of understanding for such cases.
According to Nair, the vessel had been waiting off the Sri Lankan coast for several days before moving towards the Indian coast and dropping anchor to conserve fuel. He said this was the third medical evacuation being coordinated at Vizhinjam, with the vessel owner relying on Waterline Shipping’s operational experience.
The case highlights the chain of institutions required to move an unwell seafarer from an offshore vessel to hospital care: the ship’s captain and owner, the national maritime rescue coordination system, the Coast Guard, port authorities, the Kerala Maritime Board, a tug operator and a medical facility. The response also depended on the tanker moving closer to the port’s outer anchorage, where the transfer could be carried out.
Officials said Vizhinjam’s location and safety were helping it emerge as a port for quick medical evacuations. Ansari received treatment in time and remained stable, with SP Medifort handling his medical care after the transfer.
