Coast Guard confirms oil spill after container vessel sinks off Kerala coast, swings into action
KOCHI: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Monday confirmed oil spill in the Arabian sea, around the area off Kerala's coast where MSC Elsa 3, a Liberia-flagged container vessel carrying hazardous cargo and calcium carbide, sunk the day before. It has deployed three vessels and an aircraft for counter-pollution operations.
The Coast Guard's Offshore Patrol Vessels ICGS Saksham, ICGS Vikram and ICGS Samarth utilised infrared cameras to detect the oil spill area and sprayed OSD (Oil Spill Dispersant) to contain the spread. A Dornier aircraft is conducting aerial assessment and OSD dispersal in the 2x1 nautical miles area where the spill has been detected. The vessels are churning the waters using hoses and propeller to mix the dispersant.
Meanwhile, ICG Ship Samudra Prahari, a specialised pollution response vessel carrying significant quantities of OSD, has set sail from Mumbai and is expected to reach Kochi on Tuesday.
The Coast Guard said in a release: 'At approximately 0750 hrs on May 25, MSC Elsa 3 sank around 15 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala, southwest of Alappuzha.
The maritime incident has raised environmental concerns, including the potential for oil spill impact and drifting of debris and cargo ashore along Kerala's coastline.
Within 2-3 hours of the vessel's submergence, the ICG surveillance aircraft detected the presence of an oil slick at the site at 11 am, the oil slick was observed drifting in east-southeast direction at an estimated speed of 1.5-2 knots (around 3.7 kmph). By 2pm, the spill was assessed to have spread over an area of approximately 2x1 nautical miles'
The ship had 84.44 tonnes of diesel and 367.1 tonnes of furnace oil when it sank, and this caused the oil spill.
Statement of ship's crew to be recorded today
Confirming that the oil slick has not reached the shores, ICG has advised the state administration to prepare for shoreline cleanup operations.
The Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) , Kochi, has issued a warning to the vessel's owners regarding pollution liability and launched an investigation into the incident.
MMD principal officer and Joint Director J Senthil Kumar met the 24 crew members of the sunken vessel on Monday. As the crew were yet to recover from the trauma, the MMD decided to record their statements on Tuesday.
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