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Efforts to salvage ship stranded near Mumbai fails

Efforts to salvage cargo ship MV Wisdom, which has been stranded on the Juhu beach after running aground last week, failed on Friday as it could not be connected to the tug vessel that would have hauled it back into the waters, apparently due to the rough sea.

Efforts to salvage ship stranded near Mumbai fails

"The salvage operation was suspended today as the messenger rope that would have joined MV Wisdom to the tug could not be connected. The operation will resume during the high tide on Saturday," said Director General of Shipping S B Agnihotri.

Efforts to salvage ship stranded near Mumbai fails

He refuted media reports that the rope had snapped causing the salvage operators to abandon the mission.

"Such an exercise (of connecting the stranded ship to the tow vessel) can be undertaken just once a day and that too during high tide. We will try to resume efforts to pull the ship back into the sea on Saturday," he said.

Efforts to salvage ship stranded near Mumbai fails

Steps to salvage the ship, which ran aground at Juhu beach on June 11, began on Thursday with Indian Navy helicopters joining in the rescue operations.

The ship was being tugged to the Alang ship breaking yard in Gujarat from Colombo when the cable to its tow boat snapped, causing the vessel to go adrift.