Coast Guard monitoring chance of pollution from sunken vessel

The Coast Guard is using six vessels and two aircraft in its effort to check marine pollution in case of an oil spill from the submerged foreign vessel, MV Princess Miral.

Karnataka Coast Guard commander and Deputy Inspector-General S B Venkatesh said in a release here that six vessels and two Dornier aircraft are being used for monitoring, mapping and combating oil spill in the area.

Two vessels from local resource agencies are also being used, he said. The damaged and submerged vessel is reported to be carrying 220 tonnes of fuel on board.

The Coast Guard is coordinating with the state administration, pollution control board, New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) to prevent any threat of largescale oil spill from the sunken vessel, he said.

He said only a minor sheen of oil assessed to be from engine bilges and dirty water tanks has been observed so far.

To achieve sustained operations, a specialised pollution control vessel, ICGS Samudra Pavak, has sailed from Porbandar. It will arrive here Saturday morning, he said.

The entire area is being continuously monitored for any marine pollution eventuality, Venkatesh said. The foreign flagged merchant vessel ran aground off Ullal near here on June 21 and is on the verge of sinking completely. All the 15 Syrian crew on board were rescued by the Coast Guard.