US Coast Guard ship Stratton arrives in Chennai port

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India] Aug 23 (ANI): United States Coast Guard (USCG) ship Stratton on her maiden visit to India arrived at Chennai port as a part of goodwill visit and to strengthen the international cooperation here on Friday.
The USCG ship was given a traditional welcome by students of Sindhi model school.
Deputy Inspector General Sanjeev Dewan, TM Commander Coast Guard along with officials from Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and USCG graced the occasion.
Prior to entering Chennai, ICG and USCG ships and aircraft took part in Indo-USCG joint exercise off Chennai port to promote interoperability between the two maritime forces.
Bob Little, Stratton Ship Captain said, "We will be here for four days, our purpose for being here is to work with Indian coast and establish deeper diplomatic relations, and continue to work together".
"Today we focused on activities like search and rescue, law enforcement boarding, and fire fighting at sea with our ships and we also conducted a joint helicopter operation here" he added further.
This visit provides an opportunity to strengthen cooperation and interaction on threats to the marine environment by oil spills and maritime security including trafficking, smuggling of drugs and firearms, piracy and illegal fishing. (ANI)