ICG’s pollution control ship in Mangaluru to contain possible oil spill from sunken vessel

MANGALURU

With sunken merchant vessel MV Princess continuing to be in the sea off the Mangaluru coast, Indian Coast Guard’s pollution control vessel ICGS Samudra Pavak arrived in the Mangaluru waters on Saturday morning to join the pollution response operations at Sea along with other ICG ships and aircraft.

A release from ICG District headquarter, Karnataka, in Mangaluru said the agency continues to monitor the sitution around the grounded ship in coordination with the State administration and other stakeholders for shoreline cleanup in case of any oil spill.

Constant surveillance was being undertaken by ICG aircraft and ships around the vessel for pollution response since June 21 when the ship ran aground and later sunk on June 23.

As on date, nine ICG ships and resource agencies and three ICG aircraft were on task for assessment and monitoring the Sea area around Mangaluru and continue to take necessary preventive measures.

Since Netravathi and Phalguni (Gurupura) rivers were in close proximity to the grounded vessel, the river mouth has been barricaded from seaward using inflatable booms to prevent containment of the river course in case of any oil leakage from the ship. Pollution Response and shoreline cleanup training sessions and mock drills were being continusoly undertaken to analyse the situation by ICG, New Mangalore Port Authority and the state administration.

MV Princess that was transporting 8,000 tonnes of steel coil from China to Beirut in Lebanon ran aground after its hull got damaged off Mangaluru coast on June 21. It was said to be holding over 220 tonnes of fuel at the particular time.

Mock pollution control drills were conducted on the Uchchla-Batpady seashore by emergency teams from fire and emergency services department, Coast Guard, NMPA and other agencies on Saturday in the presence of Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra, among others.