Divers wait for good weather to plug Mumbai oil spill
August 11th, 2011 - 10:55 pm ICT by IANSMumbai, Aug 11 (IANS) A team of divers from the Oil and Natural Gas Commission Thursday started operations to ascertain the source of oil spill from the sunken cargo vessel MV Rak Carrier, even as the quantity of the leakage has noticeably reduced, officials said.
The ONGC divers visited the site where the Panama-flagged vessel sank last Friday and placed three markers there.
“The diving operations will take place when favourable weather and tide conditions are available,” the Directorate General of Shipping said.
The Indian Coast Guard, meanwhile, announced that the oil spill from the sunken ship has reduced considerably.
From aerial sorties carried out Thursday, the trail of oil spill was observed up to 9 nautical miles with the width of between one and one and a half cables (185 to 200 metres approx), they said.
According to the Coast Guard’s estimate, around 150 tons of oil has so far leaked from the cargo ship, which was carrying 340 tons of different types of oils when it sank.
Four oil patches were noticed Thursday around five nautical miles off Mahalaxmi (south-central Mumbai) and some fresh patches were sighted off Colaba in south Mumbai.
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Tags: cables, cargo ship, cargo vessel, central mumbai, coast guard, colaba, flagged vessel, good weather, last friday, mv, natural gas, nautical miles, oil spill, panama, patches, rak, shipping, south mumbai, sunken ship, tide conditions