6 days after Chennai oil spill, cleanup efforts intensified

On Board ICGS Bard, Feb 3

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Six days after the oil spill off Chennai coast, over 2,000 personnel from different agencies today stepped up cleanup efforts even as the Coast Guard believed it may take at least 10 days to clear the sludge from the site of collision of two ships in Ennore port.

Coast Guard Eastern region Inspector General Rajan Bargotra said a probe has been ordered by the Directorate General of Shipping into the oil spillage that has blackened the Chennai shoreline following the collision of two ships last Saturday.

Describing the incident as a “major accident but a minor (oil) spill”, Bargotra said: “Oil spill has occurred in nearly 34,000 square metres in the Eastern coast of Bay of Bengal amid reports that marine life has been affected.”

Volunteers wearing gloves could be seen scooping up the thick tar with shovels off Kamarajar Port, formerly Ennore Port. The mishap occurred around 4 am when ‘M T BW Maple’, with a flag of ‘Isle of Man’, was leaving after emptying Liquefied Petroleum Gas and M T Dawn, Kanchipuram, loaded with petroleum oil lubricant (POL), was on its way to berth at the Kamarajar Port.

“Oil spill has occurred in nearly 72 km off the eastern coast from Ennore Port to Mahabalipuram. About 12 km got affected with oil slick and about 250 metres particularly in RK Nagar Kuppam area was most affected,” he told reporters on board a Coast Guard ship in Bay of Bengal.

Noting that 72 tonnes of oil sludge has been collected, he said 54 kilolitre of oil mixed with water was collected through super sucker equipment. “An inquiry has been ordered by DG Shipping and based on that we will be able to know exact amount of oil spilled into the sea,” he said. He said by tomorrow evening the coasts of Marina beach and Elliots Beach at Thiruvanmiyur would be cleaned. — PTI