Four emergency response boats, berthed strategically, will provide help in dousing fires and towing ferries to safety. The first, named Garuda, was launched on Monday at Kakkanad.
The 16-metre-long boats that were built at a yard in Puducherry are capable of carrying up to 20 passengers at a time and can also help evacuate passengers to safety, if needed.
Water-borne ambulance
“Manned by crew trained in administering first aid, it can even serve as a water-borne ambulance and has wheelchairs and stretchers on board. Garuda touched a speed of 23 knots [approximately 42 kmph] during sea trials, and it proved that it could rush emergency help to any ferry in distress within 10 minutes. It can also help douse fire using equipment on board,” official sources said.
The four emergency response boats will alternatively be used for service back-up of the 78 ferries envisaged under the ₹747-crore Water Metro project. The personnel on board would also help with daily upkeep of the ferries, they added.
The catamaran boats will be propelled by twin Volvo Penta stern drives and can also tow ferries to safety in case they are stranded mid-water. Even otherwise, each ferry will come with 10% more life jackets than their passenger capacity, apart from other life-saving equipment. There will also be smaller life jackets for children and even infants, it is learnt.
All the ferries and emergency aid boats will be monitored from the Water Metro’s upcoming control centre near the Vyttila terminal. With the first lot of five ferries set for launch in the High Court-Vypeen corridor in a month, the centre will for now function from the Vyttila metro station.
