MT Pavit finally sails out of Mumbai's Juhu beach

A fortnight after the 999-tonne oil tanker MT Pavit had run aground at the popular Juhu beach in Mumbai, it was on Monday hauled away into the sea during a salvage operation, a top shipping official said.

A specialised salvage company hired for the operation carried out the removal of sand around the grounded vessel and took into the waters.

"The vessel was turned towards the sea and was towed into deep waters. It would be taken to a safe port soon," said Director-General of Shipping Satish Agnihotri.

Pavit is suspected to have drifted, undetected, onto the Juhu beach after being abandoned by its crew off the coast of Oman. It has been at the Juhu beach since July 31.

Earlier, vessel MV Wisdom, which had also got stuck on Juhu beach for nearly three weeks, was successfully tugged away on July 2.