Oil spill spreads, 300 containers tumble into water
Mumbai: A foreign cargo ship, which collided with another vessel about 10 km off Mumbai harbour, tilted further spilling oil for the third day on Monday as Navy and Coast Guard made hectic efforts to contain the leak.
India launches 'war' against oil spill
"MSC Chitra has tilted 80 degrees and the total oil spill is nearly 50 tonnes," Arun Singh, Commandant (Operations), Coast Guard said.
He said so far, 300 containers carrying oil have tumbled into the water. The containers are floating in the choppy sea in the busy navigation channels that are the entry to and exit from one of the country's oldest and the largest ports - the Mumbai Port - and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
A worried Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said, "This is a serious issue. We have already filed cases against the captains of the two ships which are from abroad. Today, I am going to have an aerial look at the accident site".
"We are trying to contain the leak as far as possible," he said.
Two Panamanian cargo ships -- MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 -- collided on Saturday off the Mumbai coast causing an oil spill from one of the vessels.
Thirty three crew members, including two Pakistanis, were rescued following the incident.
The Navy and the Coast Guards carried out anti-pollution operations for the third consecutive day today to check and neutralise the oil spill.
India launches 'war' against oil spill
Six coastguard vessels and a helicopter with anti-pollution dispersal spray systems were pressed into service on Sunday to contain the oil spill.
A high-level meeting, to be attended by the officials of the Maharashtra government Environment Department, National Disaster Response Force, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Shipping department, Mumbai Port Trust and other concerned agencieshas been convened to assess the situation and steps to be taken to bring it under control, sources said.
Fishing associations have been also requested not to carry out any fishing activities till the oil spill is contained, officials said.
Officials are yet to locate the leakage. The thick oil slick has been sighted two to three kms around the vessel Chitra.
"Traffic has been suspended as the containers are still sighted floating into the channel thus making navigation hazardous," a Coast Guard official said.
The Directorate General of Shipping has initiated an investigation into the incident, Directorate General of Shipping's Chief Nautical Advisor M M Savvi said, adding "the Coast Guard and senior officials (Directorate General of Shipping) are now at the site".
According to officials, Chitra was carrying about 1,200 containers which had over 266 tonnes of fuel.
In the biggest such operation mounted so far in the Indian waters, the authorities on Sunday deployed five ICG ships, a helicopter and a small aircraft for controlling the massive oil spill in the Mumbai harbour, around five km south of the island city, the officer said.
Meanwhile, the ICG ships - Sankalp, Amrit Kaur, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Kamla Devi and C-145 - have joined the ICG AOPV Sangram which was deployed since Saturday to monitor the oil spill and guide the relief efforts.
A helicopter and a small aircraft have been pressed into service for aerial spraying of dispersants on the thick oil slick through regular sorties.
India launches 'war' against oil spill
So far, they have sprayed nearly 150 litres of dispersant, the officer said.
The ICG's smaller vessels are now engaged in churning down the oil sheen for weathering or emulsification, but the discharge from the grounded ship continued, thwarting the efforts by different agencies.
The officer said that the authorities are making the best efforts to mitigate and minimise the damage to the sea due to the oil spill.
"Containment and recovery of spilled oil in present position is not feasible because of the rocky surface and the prevailing weather and tidal conditions," the officer explained.
Though officials declined to hazard a guess on the time-frame, it is expected that the operation may go on for over a week.
The ICG has also requisitioned additional pollution check assistance from Goa, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and other agencies.
The state government, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the Maharashtra Maritime Board are also in a state of high alert to mobilize resources for a shore clean-up if required, according to the officer.
Besides, the Bombay Natural History Society has been approached to mobilize and keep volunteers on standby for shore cleanup operations.
The shipping agency of MSC Chitra has engaged Smit Salvage of Singapore to help out with the salvage operations of the fully loaded cargo ship.
Source: PTI and IANS
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