Coast Guard says oil spill from MSC Chitra has stopped

The Indian Coast Guard today said the oil spill from a cargo ship that was involved in a collision with another merchant vessel off Mumbai on Saturday appeared to have stopped.

A view of the MSC Chitra, which started spilling oil off the Mumbai coast and has listed more than 80 degrees, after colliding with another cargo vessel on August 7, 2010.

A press release from the Coast Guard said its ships and aircraft engaged in the pollution response efforts indicated that the oil spill was almost nil from MSC Chitra in the evening. It said Coast Guard ships continued to monitor the situation.

The release also said the District Collectors of Thane, Navi Mumbai and Raigarh had reported no sighting of oil on the coast line. Nine containers that had drifted from the listing ship to near the Uran coast contained milk powder, it said.

The Coast Guard said several of its helicopters, fixed wing aircraft and six ships (Sankalp, Sangram, Amrit Kaur, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Kamla Devi and C-145) contined their efforts to combat the oil spill off the Mumbai coast for the third day today.

It said MSC Chitra was still tilted dangerously and there was no change in the situation.

The oil spill from the vessel had reduced to a certain extent during the day and moved in a North-Westerly direction.

The release said only two tanks of the vessel had been reported to have suffered damage in the collision. They had a combined capacity of 879 tonnes. The amount of oil held onboard was only for bunkering.

Coast Guard aircraft from its Air Station at Daman are undertaking air surveillance to monitor the spill over the sensitive areas of Mumbai coast.

The release said that, during the surveillance, concentrated residual oil patches had been sighted in areas adjoining the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Sewri.

The oil patches off Middle Ground and islands of Elephanta and Butcher have been cleared off by Coast Guard assets by spraying chemical dispersants.

According to the release, pollution response for the oil sheen short of Sewri and Alibaug is in progress.

The oil spill is a potential threat to the marine environment but the situation, as of now, was under control, it said, adding that the Coast Guard had adequate response equipment and facilities to meet the contingency.

Sources in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust said traffic would remain suspended for a couple of days more till the containers that had fallen off MSC Chitra were removed from the channel.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan made an aerial survey of the affected area and later said the oil spill was a serious issue. He advised fishermen to not go fishing in the area for the time being and also urged people to avoid consumption of fish for some time.

The two merchant ships - an outbound vessel MSC Chitra, a Panama-flagged container, and an inbound vessel, MV Khalijia, flagged St Kitts Nevis, collided around 0950 hours on Saturday.

The collision caused an oil spill from MSC Chitra at a point about 10 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast.

The Coast Guard has mobilised additional pollution response equipment from Goa as well as the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and other agencies.

The Maharashtra Government, the State Pollution Control Board and the Maharashtra Maritime Board are also helping out with the mobilisation of response resources for shore clean-up, if the need arises.

The officials said the Bombay History Natural Society had been approached to mobilise and keep volunteers on standby for shore clean-up.

Fishing associations had been requested to request their members to not fish in the area till the effect of the oil spill had been minimised. The Chief Secretary of Maharashtra had been requested to impose restriction on fishing activities off Mumbai.

Smit Salvage of Singapore had been employed by the shipping agency of MSC Chitra to assist in the operations.

As many as 37 people on the two ships, including members of crew, three women and two children, had been safely evacuated by the Coast Guard on Saturday. No casualty was reported.

According to preliminary information given on Saturday, MSC Chitra had 2,662 tonnes of fuel as well as 238.8 tonnes of diesel and 88040 litres of lube oil.

Meanwhile, an official press release in Delhi from the Ministry of Shipping said that, even though the bow of the other vessel, Khalijia, was damaged, it was safely docked at the BPX berth of the Mumbai Port Trust.

It said Smit Salvage, Singapore, appointed for assessment and salvaging of MSC Chitra, had secured the compartments and also dropped anchor, securing the vessel from drifting. Later as the listing of the ship increased, about 250 containers have fallen into the sea, it said.

The release said the floating containers are being cleared with the help of tugs and floating cranes. They will be stored on the JNPT side of the channel. The Mumbai Port Harbour is likely to be cleared of floating containers in next two-three days.

Once the vessel stabilizes and is certified safe to board, the salvagers will board the vessel and remove the fuel from the various tanks into the barges to eliminate threat of pollution.

It said an enquiry by the Director General (Shipping) into the causes of the accident had been ordered and was underway. The DG (S) has convened a meeting of all agencies for monitoring the situation.

The Committee of Secretaries also met yesterday to review the situation and will meet again tomorrow.

Fishing is not affected as there is a general ban in the area till August 15, the release said.

It said the salvers would make an assessment tomorrow on the decision to ballast the vessel and turn it upright; otherwise action would have to be taken to debunker the ship by removing the oil into barges.

So far 17 vessels, 9 at JN Port and 8 at Mumbai Port have completed their operations yesterday and today but could not be sailed out. As many as 15 vesels were scheduled -- 9 for JN Port and 6 for Mumbai Port -- but could not be berthed, the release added.

NNN