Coast Guards spearheading operations of controlling oil spill

Mumbai, Aug 9 ::: Over 400 tonnes of oil have spilt into the Arabian Sea, following Saturday's accident involving two merchant vessels off the Mumbai's coast, creating an oil slick that has now spread over three kilometres. The Panama-registered vessel MSC Chitra was carrying over 3,000 tonnes of oil when it collided with merchant ship Khalija-III.

Oil stocks :: The Maharashtra Minister for Environment, Mr Suresh Shetty, told newspersons on Monday that “The ship was carrying 2,662 tonnes of heavy oil, 284 tonnes of diesel and 88 tonnes of lubricating oil at the time of the accident. Oil has been leaking from the ship at the rate of about three tonnes an hour. Removing oil from the ship is the top priority of the Coast Guard and other agencies. Due to high tide, the oil slick could come close to the Mumbai coast,” he said. Mr Shetty said the Coast Guards are spearheading operations of controlling the oil spill and have pressed into service six ships and two helicopters. Both the shipping companies have brought in salvage experts from Singapore, who are assisting the Coast Guards in pumping out the remaining oil from the ships, he said.
Coast Guard leads oil spill control effort …from the pages of HINDU BUSINESS LINE newspaper.