Hunt for sunken boxes continues amid oil spill clean-up
More than five weeks after two vessels collided in the approach channel to the Indian port of Mumbai,almost 200 containers which fell into the water are still missing, a port official confirmed yesterday.
The containers, including some packed with hazardous materials, went overboard when the MSC Chitra was struck by the cargo vessel Khalijia-III on 7 August. It was reported that around 250 containers had gone overboard, some of which had floated and been recovered. More than 100 that remained aboard the stricken vessel have also been removed.
MSC CEO Captain Deepak Tewar told reporters yesterday: “According to our calculations, 189 containers are unaccounted for. They are perhaps in the vicinity of the vessel.” Of the missing containers, nine contain hazardous materials, of which six carried caustic soda which is soluble in water, he said. Others contained pesticides. But he added that the materials were stored in airtight metal flasks.He blamed the Khalija III for the collision, which resulted in an oil slick that spread to a distance of two nautical miles off the Mumbai coast. Tewari said: “We are innocent. The ship [MSC Chitra] was moving out of the harbour and was on the right track. The Khalija III collided with us, leading to a breach in Chitra’s oil tank."
The MSC Chitra was carrying 2,662 tonnes of heavy oil in its tanks and 245 tonnes of diesel oil. Tewari said MSC had spent nearly US$10 million so far in salvage and clean-up operations after the collision, and has paid around $200,000 to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board for the cleaning up operation.
“We have four specialised tugboats on standby around the Chitra. These are equipped with clean-up materials and can disperse even small traces to make sure that the oil does not become a hazard," Tewari said. He added that priority was being given to the clean-up operation near Elephanta Island, a world heritage cave temple site, around 16km from Mumbai port.
Source: David Badger, IFW News, 17 September 2010