The indigenous Dhruv Advanced Light helicopter (ALH) and Chetak helicopters given by India to Mauritius are being used extensively for salvage and rescue missions to clear the oil spill after a Japanese owned cargo ship MV Wakasio ran aground 40 km off the capital Port Louis, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said on Tuesday.
A 10-member specialist pollution response team of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has also been deployed on the request of Mauritius.
“A total of 210 cargo operations and 270 winch operations were undertaken by HAL choppers towards salvage and rescue missions so far. The Chetak helicopters were used primarily for winching survivors,” HAL said in a statement. The ALH flew continuous missions to get the international salvage team on board the ship to contain the spill. The HAL-made helicopters have flown 110 hours and rescued 600 persons, the statement said.
On July 25, MV Wakasio which was on its way from China to Brazil ran aground on the reef at Pointe d’Esny, an ecologically sensitive zone on Mauritius South Eastern coastline. The Point d’Esny Wetlands are designated as a site of international importance under the Convention on Wetlands. The carrier held 3,894 tonnes of low-sulfur fuel oil, 207 tonnes of diesel and 90 tonnes of lubricant oil, according to the Mauritius Environment Ministry.
“The specialist team is qualified in pollution response operations at sea and are capable of undertaking pollution response and clean-up operations. The various pollution response equipment such as Ocean and River Booms, skimmers and salvage barge were dispatched to combat oil spill,” ICG said.
One Dhruv and three Chetak helicopters, manufactured by HAL are presently in service at Mauritius Police Helicopter Squadron (PHS). “Two senior helicopter pilots and one engineer officer from IAF are on deputation to PHS. They are qualified supervisors on Dhruv and Chetak and undertake helicopter operations at Mauritius,” a defence source said.
This Indian team along with Mauritian pilots and maintenance crew commenced helicopter operations for stranded vessel right from July 26. Chetak helicopter was immediately tasked with carrying out initial assessment of situation from 7 a.m. on July 26 and submitting aerial updates with changing scenario, the source said.
Given the magnitude of the oil spill, Mauritius had declared a state of environmental emergency. Another defence official said although much of the oil on board MV Wakashio was pumped out before it broke in half, an estimated 1,000 tonnes spilled into the ocean. Extraction of paints and hazardous material continued from August 11 to 16 and the ship finally broke into two parts on August 16.
“Dhruv and Chetaks started extracting skimmed oil from Wakashio to shore using Intermediate Bulk Carrier (IBC) of around 1000cc capacity. On way to MV Wakashio, helicopters were airlifting four empty IBC for further extraction of oil, the official said.
Dhruv is indigenously designed and developed by HAL and widely used by the Indian military.
