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Sri Lankan super tanker fire put under control, avoiding disaster

The Panamanian-registered New Diamond carrying 270,000 tonnes of crude drifted dangerously close to Sri Lanka's shores

 

Sri Lankan super tanker fire put under control, avoiding disaster

 

By Patryk Krych | The World Daily | SEPTEMBER 5th 2020

 

Sri Lankan and Indian authorities/response teams had been in a fray to extinguish an intense fire that had broken out on an oil tanker on Sri Lanka’s coast on Friday. They had to make great efforts in order to avoid a total environmental disaster, but the situation is now said to be under control.

The Panamanian-registered tanker, named the New Diamond, was an environmental disaster waiting to happen, officials warned, as it was said to be carrying nearly two million barrels of crude oil. According to the navy, the fire had started on Thursday morning after an engine room explosion. The fire carried on from the engine room and quickly got out of control after spreading to the bridge of the ship.

“The live flames have now died down and there is only white smoke emanating from the vessel,” said Director-General of Operations Rear Admiral Y N Jayarathna, who assured the navy’s confidence that there wouldn’t be a spill. “It will take another four to five days to completely put out the fire. Thereafter we should be able to tow it away and let the owners decide what they want to do.”

The tanker was tasked with transporting the barrels of crude oil from Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip, to a refinery. After the fire got out of control, it had ended up drifting about 40km (22 nautical miles) from the coast of Sri Lanka. Of the 23 crew members on the ship, one of them is missing and presumed dead.

 

The Panamanian-registered New Diamond carrying 270,000 tonnes of crude drifted dangerously close to Sri Lanka's shores

 

“The missing Filipino sailor is presumed dead. He was badly injured when a boiler exploded,” army chief Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva told the Reuters news agency. “There were five Greek and 18 Philippine nationals among the crew. One of them was injured and he was airlifted out of the ship and the rest were accounted for.”

Rescuers stated on Saturday that the navy had successfully tugged the ship away from the Sri Lankan coast, after a 36-hour long operation ended with the successful taming of the fire. “The fire is under control but not out yet,” de Silva added. “We are keeping the ship in a location that is far enough from the shore in case there is an oil leak so that our shoreline does not get damaged.”

Two crafts from the Russian navy and three from the Indian navy, as well as five Sri Lankan navy ships and three tugboats were involved in the fire taming operation, successfully stopping the fire before it could reach the cargo area, where the barrels of crude oil were being held. The navy assured that despite there being a two metre crack in the hull of the ship, located about ten metres above the water line, there’s no danger of the ship splitting in two.

The effect of even a quarter of the tanker’s oil cargo, 70,000 tons of crude oil, spilling into the ocean was modelled by Sri Lankan meteorology department. What the model revealed, according to authorities, was that should such a spill occur at the ship’s current position, the effects wouldn’t be immediately dangerous to the country’s East coast. The long- term effects would, however, be disastrous regardless of this.

The chair of Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority, Dharshani Lahandapura, is far more concerned however. She warns that any kind of spill of oil from the ship, no matter the quantity or location, would be a devastating blow for marine life. “It will be a huge environmental and economic disaster if this happens,” she said.

The New Diamond tanker is much bigger than the Japanese bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which crashed into a reef in Mauritius in July. It is also carrying much more oil. The Mauritius oil spill of 1,000 tonnes was disastrous enough on its own. A spill from the New Diamond would, many fear, be a much more terrible disaster, with bigger consequences that could see mass destruction in the local marine life. Thus far, the situation is being handled relatively well by authorities.

 

By Patryk Krych | © The World Daily 2020

 

 

Categories:
Environment
Tags:
AsiaSri LankaIndiaIndian OceanEnvironmentOceansOil SpillWater Pollution