Andaman trip abandoned, passengers return home

Visakhapatnam: After 48 hours of suspense, the voyage to Port Blair by MV Harshavardhan has been put off and the passengers returned to their homes on Thursday evening.The ship, which sailed from Visakhapatnam harbor on Tuesday afternoon developed technical snag, six hours after sailing. On the instructions from the authorities, the ship anchored at 14 nautical miles off Visakhapatnam, which lead to tense situation in the vessel that was carrying more than 500 passengers including women and children.After the technicians failed to restore the generators, the captain was asked to return to berth at Visakhapatnam harbor. The vessel arrived in the early hours.

Traffic manager of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust G Jayade Vandanam said that the ship had come to Visakhapatnam port and technical experts from Mumbai have reached to undertake repairs to the one of the generators of the ship which was not functioning.

He said it would take two to three days for rectification and hence it was announced that fresh notification would be given to the passengers after repairs about the next journey.

Meanwhile all the passengers have returned to their respective places as the Andaman Nicobar management returned the fares and also money for the lunch coupons purchased.Harshavadhan had on board mostly labourers from north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha.