The Coast Guard on Friday continued to monitor the sea near Batpady for oil spill, if any, from the sunken foreign merchant vessel Princess Miral which went under water on Thursday after it ran aground following damage to its hull on Tuesday.
Official sources said that there was not much progress in the efforts to de-fuel the vessel and to take a decision on salvaging the vessel which was carrying 8,000 tonnes of steel coil from Tianjin in China to Beirut in Lebanon.
The vessel is said to be carrying more than 220 tonnes of fuel onboard.
Booms (temporary floating barriers) were laid in the estuary to prevent the ingress of oil into rivers, in case of an oil spill.
Meanwhile, a Coast Guard release said here on Thursday that a specialised pollution control vessel, ICGS Samudra Pavak, has sailed from Porbandar to Mangaluru. And, it will arrive on Saturday morning.
It said that the Coast Guard is using its six vessels and two aircraft in its effort to check marine pollution in case of an oil spill. In addition, two vessels from local resource agencies are being used.
So far, only a minor sheen of oil, assessed to be from engine bilges and dirty water tanks, has been observed, the release said.
