Microbes used to clean Orissa oil spill
October 9th, 2009 - 7:06 pm ICT by IANSBhubaneswar, Oct 9 (IANS) Microbes are being used to clear an oil spill caused by a ship that sank last month off the Paradip port in Orissa, a senior port official said Friday.
“The microbes are a kind of bacteria which live on oil. The microbes will clean up the spilled oil on the coast, as well as in the water. The work has started from today (Friday)” the official told IANS.
“On our request, The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) sent us the microbes.”
The vessel, under a Mongolian flag, ran aground Sep 9 in the harbour area off the port in Jagatsinghpur district, some 100 km from here, with 924 tonnes of furnace oil and about 25,000 tonnes of iron ore fines.
Twenty-seven crew members were on board. All but a Ukrainian engineer, whose body was found 10 days later, were rescued.
The port authorities said that small quantities of oil have started oozing out of the ship since Sep 21, although out of the 924 tonnes of oil, 900 tonnes are inside a double-bottom tank fully secured.
The accident spot is close to the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, one of the world’s few remaining nesting sites for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.
- Fresh oil from sunken ship blackening Orissa coastline: experts (With Images) - Oct 06, 2009
- US firm begins work to pump oil from sunken ship - Oct 19, 2009
- Andhra-based company to plug holes of sunken ship - Sep 27, 2009
- Bids invited to remove oil from ship sunk off Orissa coast - Sep 24, 2009
- Orissa directed to monitor oil spill off Paradip port - Oct 07, 2009
- Orissa forms crisis group to monitor oil spill off Paradip - Oct 08, 2009
- Bad weather prevents oil-plugging on sunken ship - Sep 30, 2009
- US firm to remove oil from sunken Mongolian ship (Lead) - Oct 09, 2009
- Expert team to verify fresh spillage from sunken ship - Oct 05, 2009
- Oil spill could devastate Orissa coast, says Greenpeace - Sep 24, 2009
- 176 tonnes of fuel oil retrieved from sunken ship - Oct 26, 2009
- Central team reaches Paradip to inspect capsized ship - Sep 26, 2009
- Wildlife body concerned over delay in oil removal - Sep 23, 2009
- Oil spill on Orissa coast could be from sunken ship: expert - Sep 22, 2009
- Paradip Port launches clean-up drive to contain oil spill - Sep 21, 2009
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