05-08-2025
Foreign technicians, divers arrive to extract oil from MSC Elsa 3
Over two-and-a-half months after the capsize of the Liberian-flagged container ship MSC Elsa off the coast of Kerala, foreign technicians and divers have arrived at the Kollam port to assist in containing and extracting oil and other hazardous materials from the ship. The immigration officials posted at Kollam issued the passes for the technicians who were transported to the site from the Kollam port using offshore support vessels.
Oil slicks from the ship were spotted again on Monday (August 4, 2025), although it was not clear whether the underwater divers had started working on the leakage from the ship. According to State government officials, the Coast Guard team that had been patrolling in the area had spotted the oil slicks. With improved weather conditions over the Arabian Sea, the foreign technicians and divers have been pressed into extracting the oil from the sunken ship.
There were around 640 containers onboard when the ship capsized on its way from Vizhinjam to Kochi on May 24. Among the containers, 13 were classified as hazardous, and 12 contained calcium carbide. The ship also had 84.44 tonnes of diesel and 367.1 tonnes of furnace oil, raising serious environmental concerns.
Now, Kollam port has been selected as the logistic hub for the diving operation owing to its proximity, with adequate draft (7 metres). Kollam is also an ideal place for project coordination, offering efficient turnaround times (approximately 4.5 hours to the site) and administrative ease compared to Kochi, as the ship was sunk between Alappuzha and Kollam. The mobilisation of the Southern Nova vessel also marked a critical transition into the next operational phase, which focusses on deep-sea fuel extraction from the sunken ship using saturation diving.
Earlier in June, an oil slick from the ship measuring approximately 9.3 km long in the sea with a visible silver/metallic reflection was spotted by Greenpeace South Asia, although the salvors had claimed the successful capping of the oil leaks. It is estimated that the entire oil recovery from the ship will take around four weeks, subject to weather conditions.
The sinking of the MSC Elsa 3 on May 24, 14.6 nautical miles off the coast of Kochi, has sparked significant environmental concern, with oil and chemical leaks posing a serious threat to marine ecosystems along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coast, and has been declared a 'State-specific disaster' by the Kerala government.
