A navy spokesmans mentioned there have been 23 crew on board, certainly one of whom is presumed lifeless.
Colombo:
There is no such thing as a actual danger of a spill from a totally loaded supertanker that caught fireplace off the east coast of Sri Lanka, a senior official within the Indian Ocean nation’s navy mentioned on Friday.
The fireplace that broke out within the engine room of the New Diamond on Thursday morning had unfold to the bridge of the ship, carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, although it has not reached the cargo space, the Sri Lankan navy mentioned.
Director-Common of Operations Rear-Admiral Y N Jayarathna advised reporters it was the navy’s view that there was no actual hazard of a spill, as a result of the hearth on the ship has been contained within the rear part of the vessel.
“The stay flames have now died down and there may be solely white smoke emanating from the vessel,” he advised a televised press convention.
A navy spokesman, Captain Indika de Silva, mentioned there have been 23 crew on board, certainly one of whom is presumed lifeless. The remainder have been taken off the ship by the Sri Lankan navy, with one injured crew member flown to the capital Colombo for therapy.
Three tug boats, 5 Sri Lankan navy ships in addition to two craft from the Russian navy and three from the Indian navy have been aiding in an operation to battle the hearth and tow the ship away from the coast, after it started drifting in direction of land.
At current the vessel is being held by the salvage crew in deep sea 35 kms (21.7 miles) east of the Sri Lankan city of Pottuvil, de Silva mentioned.
Initially, the ship was stranded 38 kms (24 miles) east of the city of Thirukovil, however drifted inside 25 kms of the coast after being deserted. Authorities had been now towing it eastward, away from the coast, de Silva mentioned.
Thirukovil is a city in Sri Lanka’s Ampara district that was badly battered by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Arugam Bay, a world-renowned browsing spot, is close by.
“The lacking Filipino sailor is presumed lifeless. He was badly injured when a boiler exploded,” de Silva advised Reuters, citing crew who had been rescued.
“There have been 5 Greek and 18 Philippine nationals among the many crew. One in every of them was injured and he was airlifted out of the ship and the remaining had been accounted for.”
Sri Lanka’s meteorology division had already modelled the impression of 70,000 tonnes of crude oil – 1 / 4 of the ship’s cargo – spilling into the ocean.
The simulation, a worst case situation in line with authorities, discovered that such a spill wouldn’t instantly threaten the nation’s east coast.
However Dharshani Lahandapura, chair of Sri Lanka’s federal Marine Setting Safety Authority, advised Reuters that any spill from the ship could be catastrophic for marine life. “Will probably be an enormous environmental and financial catastrophe if this occurs,” she mentioned.
The 1989 oil spill from the Exxon Valdez, thought of one of many worst human-caused environmental disasters, spewed about 37,000 tonnes of crude into waters off Alaska.
The 20-year previous New Diamond, chartered by Indian Oil Corp (IOC), had sailed from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait, loaded with Kuwait Export Crude, Refinitiv Eikon monitoring knowledge confirmed. It was heading for the Indian port of Paradip, the place state-run IOC has a 300,000 barrel-per-day refinery.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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