Oil spillage fears in the ecologically sensitive Chilika lake appear to have diminished with the pumping out of oil from the Malaysian tug which ran aground in the vicinity of the country’s largest brackish water lagoon progressing well and the representatives of the vessel in Visakhapatnam hoping that the tug would be ready to be towed to the city harbour shortly.
Ship Malaysian tug Jin Hwa 32 ran aground on August 8 after drifting away in storm waters while on its way from Mongla Port in Bangladesh to Visakhapatnam to carry stone aggregates (chips).
The incident occurred when empty 27-ton bollard pull tug was towing Hwa 42, a dump barge drifted away towards the lake from the Bay of Bengal near Khirsahi Chari Choko under Krishna Prasad police station limits in Puri district of neighbouring Odisha. The barge has a deadweight tonnage of 7,500.
Concerns raised
Raising serious concern over pollution threat in the event of oil spillage, Odisha Minister for Commerce and Transport Padmanabha Behera, Chilika Development Authority, Department of Forest and Environment and Odisha Pollution Control Board had directed the vessel owners to immediately remove 30,000 litres of diesel, 2,000 litres of hydraulic oil and 1,000 litres of lube oil.
“The fuel is being pumped out from August 28 by Kolkata-based Bluetech Co. Pvt. Ltd with the help of mv. Ghantasila. We will be in a position to salvage the vessel and take up sailing to Visakhapatnam after completion of oil removal in a day or two,” CMD of Navship Marine Services Pvt. Ltd Bhupesh Malaratua told The Hindu.
Mr. Malaratua said Navship Marine Services, the agent for the vessel and supplier of the stone chips, was monitoring the oil pumping out process continuously and the local people and authorities were extending full support for the removal of the tug.
Asked to comment on the condition of the barge, Mr. Malaratua said it was now half submerged and a decision on its fate would be decided only after the removal of the tug.
Help extended
All the crew of the tug, comprising 10 members including seven Myanmar, two Malaysian and one Indian, escaped unhurt when the incident occurred.
The Navy and the Indian Coast Guard authorities provided immediate help after the crew sent an SOS alert following the incident, Mr. Malaratua told The Hindu.
