After numerous salvage attempts to remove the eyesore that is the MV Lucky 7 casino boat from Miramar beach, the government has now said that operations will resume next month.
Pic credit – www.indiascribes.com
Backstory on MV Lucky 7
MV Lucky 7 ran aground, off Panjim’s famous Miramar beach, on 16th July 2017. The vessel, which is owned by former Haryana home minister Gopal Kanda, had been trying to move into the navigation channel of the Mandovi river in order to set up operations. This happened after being granted permission by the State government to operate as the 6th casino in the river. The owner was warned not to attempt bringing in the boat due to the monsoon season happening in Goa.
To make a long story short, the casino boat ran afoul of bad weather during this period. Since then multiple salvage attempts have been made to tow the boat away for repairs. All have failed miserably since salvage operators have made these attempts right in the middle of the monsoons.
Pic credit – www.navhindtimes.in
Salvage Operations
Having decided to resume operations from next month, the government still attempted to move the boat for one last time, last Monday. Again, this was met with little or no success.
Sources said that the boat, which was 6 meters from deeper waters is now about 3 meters closer to the channel.
“The vessel moved around 21 meters on Sunday. It was 6 meters away from the channel at the Aguada Bay. We decided to make an attempt even though the water tide is receding. It moved 3 meters. We will probably give a last try before resuming the exercise on October 3 or 4, “ said an official who is assisting the salvage company AMS Marine LLC in the exercise.
The High Court is yet to hear the matter on Wednesday. This same official claimed that the receding tide is hampering the towing operation along with technical glitches as well.
Salvage operations are set to resume on 3rd or 4th October when the high tide is expected to be at 2.0 meters.
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