Facing cases filed in the Madras and Calcutta high courts by different parties to recover their dues, the ship has been anchored off Chennai port since February 2010 and arrested in September last year.
When a matter relating to the sale of the ship came up before Justice R Sudhakar today, its Captain Yethi Ka in a representation before the judge said he abandoned the ship this morning since water had already reached the engine room. He reached the shores with the help of a fishing boat that came by that way.
The vessel, abandoned by its owner a long time ago leaving the crew in lurch, had drifted during the December 2011 Thane cyclone and later retrieved by the Chennai Port Trust, which has recently put up the ship for auction to recover its dues on account of the salvage operations and berthing charges.