Oil spill on Orissa coast could be from sunken ship: expert
September 22nd, 2009 - 11:21 pm ICT by IANSBhubaneswar, Sep 22 (IANS) A team of experts Tuesday found oil patches along the coast of Orissa’s Paradip port and suspected it could have leaked from a ship that sank near the harbour Sep 9.
“We found oil patches three kilometers away from the port. Probably it had come from the ship,” D.K. Behera, a state pollution control board scientist who inspected the area, told IANS.
He said samples have been collected to ascertain the quantity of oil spill and if it would lead to major pollution.
Behera’s findings come hours after the Paradip Port Trust authorities denied any major spill of oil from the capsized vessel.
The vessel under a Mongolian flag ran aground with 924 tonnes of furnace oil and about 25,000 tonnes of iron ore fines. A total of 27 crew members was on board the ship. All but an Ukrainian engineer, whose body was found 10 days later, were rescued.
The port trust earlier in the day said the spill was from the service tank of the engine room and was negligible. It does not pose any threat to ecology.
“Out of the 924 metric tonnes of oil, 900 metric tonnes are inside a double bottom tank fully secured and are very safe and cannot be released easily,” the port trust said in a statement.
A section of the media Monday said the ship had spilled oil and a thick film of black crude oil was visible on the sea near Paradip. Dead fish lie scattered on the shore.
Behera, however, said the team did not find any dead fish or marine animals due to the reported oil slick.
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- Central team reaches Paradip to inspect capsized ship - Sep 26, 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
- Mumbai oil spill decreasing, say officials (Lead) - Aug 08, 2011
- Fresh oil from sunken ship blackening Orissa coastline: experts (With Images) - Oct 06, 2009
- Microbes used to clean Orissa oil spill - Oct 09, 2009
- Andhra-based company to plug holes of sunken ship - Sep 27, 2009
- Orissa directed to monitor oil spill off Paradip port - Oct 07, 2009
- Bids invited to remove oil from ship sunk off Orissa coast - Sep 24, 2009
- Central team visits Paradip, recommends measures - Sep 27, 2009
- Antony to chair meeting on ship incidents - Aug 08, 2011
Tags: bottom tank, crew members, crude oil, dead fish, double bottom, furnace oil, iron ore fines, kilometers, marine animals, metric tonnes, oil spill, orissa coast, paradip port trust, pollution control board, scientist, service tank, state pollution control board, sunken ship, team of experts, thick film