Indian Coast Guard on alert as oil spill reported from Haldia-bound Portuguese flag Container ship
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New Delhi: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is monitoring the 10 kilolitres (KL) oil spill into the sea about 450km southeast of Chennai from a Portuguese flag container ship named MV Devon. According to the Defence officials, “The quantity of oil spilled is not large. So, the economical option is to wait and watch. Further, the distance is also far off.”ICG received information from Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo in the late hours of June 16 about a mid-sea oil spill about 450 kms South East of Chennai. On further investigation, it was revealed that a Portuguese flag Container ship MV Devon, on passage from Colombo to Haldia, West Bengal, developed an underwater crack in the fuel tank containing about 120 KL of Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil.
The officials further said that the crack resulted in the spillage of about 10 KL of oil into the sea before preventive action was taken and the remaining oil in the tank was transferred to another tank by the ship’s crew. The vessel is carrying 10,795 tonnes of general cargo in 382 containers and manned by 17 crew. The ship is continuing its voyage to Haldia and likely to reach on June 18. The ICG is in continuous contact with MV Devon and the master has reported that the vessel is stable. ICG Pollution response team at Chennai has been alerted and kept on standby. In addition, ICG ships & aircraft deployed at sea are also put on alert in pollution response configuration, the official said.
