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Colombo, Sri Lanka:
India on Tuesday despatched contemporary provides of firefighting chemical compounds to assist battle a brand new blaze on a stricken tanker loaded with an enormous cargo of crude oil off Sri Lanka’s jap coast.
The New Diamond has been burning since Thursday, and an enormous blaze believed to have been extinguished on Sunday reignited due to sturdy winds on Monday, elevating fears of one other environmental catastrophe within the Indian Ocean.
Rescuers and salvage consultants have mentioned there isn’t any signal of a leak within the Panama-flagged supertanker, which was carrying 270,000 tonnes of crude and one other 1,700 tonnes of diesel as its gasoline.
Ramping up the rescue effort, an Indian Coast Guard plane was anticipated to convey dry chemical powder on Tuesday, which might then be dropped by helicopters on the ship, the Sri Lankan navy mentioned.
Six salvage consultants and 11 catastrophe administration professionals flown in by the New Diamond’s Greek house owners have been taken Monday to the vessel, some 55 kilometres (34 miles) off the coastal village of Sangamankanda Point, the navy mentioned.
SMIT, a Dutch salvage firm, mentioned the strict was nonetheless too sizzling and unsafe for them to board the vessel for an inspection.
“Once the situation is deemed stable and safe, we will be able to inspect the vessel,” SMIT instructed AFP in The Hague.
The firm mentioned there was a chance of towing the tanker to a safer location and eradicating the cargo.
“At this point in time, there are no signs of a leak. Due to the unpredictable situation, however, the above may change and details including ultimate destination and timing are unknown,” it added.
Nineteen vessels from India and Sri Lanka have been concerned in combating the hearth on the New Diamond, which reportedly began after a boiler room explosion that killed a Filipino crew member on Thursday.
The remaining 22 crew members have been rescued.
The vessel was on a journey from Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip.
“As a result of the incessant effort of the (rescue) mission partners, the flames have been reduced to a certain extent as of now,” the Sri Lankan navy mentioned in an announcement.
Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Agency (MEPA) is because of go to the world to check water samples for any air pollution, officers mentioned.
MEPA has mentioned that authorized motion could possibly be taken in opposition to the house owners, Liberian-registered Porto Emporios Shipping Inc, “should the worst happen and the ship breaks up”.
The New Diamond is way bigger than the Japanese bulk service MV Wakashio, which crashed right into a reef in Mauritius in July, leaking greater than 1,000 tonnes of oil into the island nation’s pristine waters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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