Chennai oil spill: There will be no fresh oil spill from damaged ship, assures KPL

A week after two ships collided off the Chennai coast leading to oil spill in the sea, Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL) on Saturday said there would not be any fresh oil spill from the damaged M T Dawn Kanchipuram.

The assurance was given to Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan when he visited the port and took stock of the situation.

“The Minister visited the ship including the engine room.  He had detailed discussions with the Captain and the Designated Person Ashore of the ship. They have assured the Minister that no more oil will spill out of the vessel. The port authorities have covered the M T Dawn Kanchipuram vessel by floating booms to prevent spilled oil drifting into sea,” a Kamarajar Port Ltd (KPL) release said.

Noting that the Minister inspected the collision site during his visit, the release said, “water samples were also taken from the accident site for further testing.”

Authorities explained to him about the steps taken in controlling the oil spill.

Also read: Chennai oil spill: Keeping close watch on situation, says government

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard said it had deployed an additional ship, Sagar, integrated with helicopter “for spill assessment and neutralisation”.

Two other vessels already engaged in operations are Varadah and Bard, a Coast Guard release said.

Till date the Coast Guard has collected 121 tonnes of oil sludge, 65 tonnes of oil sand mix and 72 kilolitres of oil-water mix, it said.

Stating that several teams were engaged in cleaning up the oil spill, it said, 1,200 personnel have been deployed in R K Nagar Kuppam area which was worst affected.

On steps to clean the beaches, the release said, Marina beach and Elliots beach were entirely cleaned on Saturday, while cleaning up operations at Neelankarai beach was expected to be completed tomorrow.

The collision took place on January 28 at 4 AM when M T BW Maple, with a flag of ‘Isle of Man’, was leaving after emptying Liquified Petroleum Gas and M T Dawn Kanchipuram loaded with petroleum oil lubricant (POL) was on its way to berth at the Kamarajar Port.