The Coast Guard was working hard to save its brand new Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) from capsizing off the Tarapore coast when this edition when to print.

The vessel, which is expected to protect Mumbai from 26/11-like terror attacks, was itself in danger before it reached Mumbai's shores.

State-of-the-art Coast Guard ships Samrat and Sankalp and an Indian naval destroyer have been dispatched to keep the ship from sinking.

The Mumbai Port Trust's heavy-duty ship M T Enakshi has been charged with the responsibility of towing the ship to safety.

The unnamed OPV got its hull fitted at a shipyard at Baruch in Gujarat, and was heading for Goa Shipyard Limited at Vasco da Gama in south Goa, when it began sinking last evening.

Coast Guard Inspector General SPS Basra confirmed to this newspaper that the unnamed OPV was being rescued. "It has to undergo a refit before it can join the fleet," Basra said.