Indian coast guard vessels and helicopters worked Monday to contain an oil spill from a stricken container ship that collided with another vessel in the Arabian Sea, a spokesman for India's defence ministry said.
The Panamanian-registered MSC Chitra smashed into the St. Kitts-registered MV-Khalijia-II on Saturday near Mumbai's Jawahar Lal Nehru port. The accident caused MSC Chitra to run aground and list heavily to one side, Capt. Manohar Nambiar told The Associated Press.
Helicopters sprayed chemicals on the oil spill to prevent it from spreading, Nambiar said.
The amount of oil leaked was unclear. The environment minister of Maharashtra state told reporters Monday about two tonnes of oil was pouring into the water every hour.
The MSC Chitra's cargo included several thousand tonnes of oil products such as diesel and lubricants, Environment Minister Suresh Shetty said, adding the government was consulting foreign experts on how best to contain the spill.
Government officials in several coastal areas near Mumbai have been asked to test sea water samples in their area to check how far the oil from the spill may have spread Chhagan Bhujbal, another senior minister, told reporters.
The captains of both vessels have also been asked to appear before local officials to explain how the collision took place, police said.
At least 250 containers from the damaged vessel fell off and port officials were trying to salvage them to avoid navigational hazards to other ships, officials said.
Crews from both vessels were rescued without any serious injuries, Nambiar said.
No comments:
Post a Comment