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The multinational effort to douse the blaze aboard the super tanker MT New Diamond which is carrying 270,000 metric tons of crude oil bound for India, continues for the eighth day, as aircrafts were dispatched to spray oil dispersant chemicals onto a patch of diesel which had leaked from the stricken vessel’s guttered engine compartment – Pic courtesy Sri Lanka Air Force
By Asiri Fernando
The Attorney General Dappula De Livera yesterday advised local stakeholders involved in the MT New Diamond super tanker containment operation that a decision on towing the stricken vessel out away from Sri Lankan waters needs to be
made soon.
The move comes in the wake of authorities scrambling a specialist aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard to spray oil dispersant chemicals onto a patch of diesel oil found floating 1 kilometre from the stricken super tanker. The small oil patch seen floating on the surface had been detected by aircrafts reconnoitring the area.
The patch of oil is diesel, which could have leaked out of the guttered engine compartment during the three-day firefighting operation, Navy Spokesman Capt. Indika De Silva said. “There is no risk of a crude oil leak in the current situation,” he said.
According to Attorney General’s Coordinating Secretary, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, the Maritime Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA) had informed the AG that they have not received a reply from the New Diamond’s insurers to requests made by the authority.
MEPA had written to the insurer on 4 September on controlling and dousing the blaze aboard the MT New Diamond, prevention of an oil leak, precautionary measures, and towing the vessel out of Sri Lankan waters. However, MEPA Chairperson Dharshani Lahandapura had informed the AG that they have not received a reply as of yesterday. “A seven-member team of experts reached the sense of the incident and had begun collecting water and marine life samples to investigate the impact from the tanker incident on the marine ecosystem. Coastal samples have also been collected,” the Chairperson said.
MEPA also held a meeting with representative from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF), who have arrived in the Island to provide advice on ship pollution response.
ITOPF, established in 1968, provided specialists to provide advice on the fate and effects of oil spills and response techniques and also objectively assess the technical reasonableness of clean-up measures and claims for compensation, the group’s website stated.
“MEPA is preparing a contingency plan for a possible oil spill from the Tanker, aiming to best utilise the limited resources the authority can muster and with the goal of mitigating the impact on the most sensitive marine and coast environments in the eastern and southern coast of the Island,” Lahandapura said.
According to the Navy, the 20-member crew from the super tanker have been brought ashore at Hambantota Port and moved in to quarantine following COVID-19 regulations.
The emergency responders to the tanker fire had managed to douse the flames briefly over the weekend. However, strong winds, aided by the intense heat within the gutter engine compartment had reignited the blaze, the Navy said. Eleven naval and coast vessels from Sri Lanka and India aided by four tugs remain engaged in holding the MT New Diamond 30 nautical miles off the east coast, continuing to contain the fire and douse it. SLAF helicopters continue to airdrop dry chemical powder (DCP) to smother the flames.
The MT New Diamond was 38 nm (70 km) off Sangamankada Point on the East Coast when the distress call was issued last Wednesday (1 September). The 20-year-old Panamanian-registered super tanker (330 m long) was carrying a consignment of 270,000 MT of crude oil for the Indian Oil Company from a port in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip when the fire broke out.
