Petrol Stop - Mumbai oil spill continues, 300 containers tumbled into water so far

Mumbai oil spill continues, 300 containers tumbled into water so far

Monday, 09 August 2010

09 August 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:MUMBAI: A foreign cargo ship, which collided with another vessel about 10 km off Mumbai harbour, tilted further spilling oil for the third day today as Navy and Coast Guard made hectic efforts to contain the leak. " 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. 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. Six coastguard vessels and a helicopter with anti-pollution dispersal spray systems were pressed into service yesterday 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.