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In pics: Chennai joins battle against oil spill, cleanup still just ‘half done’
Several agencies, coordinated by the Indian Coast Guard, continued their fight for the seventh day on Friday against a giant oil slick that is spreading far and wide along the Chennai coast. The overall estimate of the sludge – a combination of oil, marine debris and water - was put at 116 tonnes.
Several agencies, coordinated by the Indian Coast Guard, continued their fight for the seventh day on Friday against a giant oil slick that is spreading far and wide along the Chennai coast.
According to experts, the oil slick has spread across the coastline from Ennore to beyond Thiruvanmiyur, a distance of over 30 km.
Coast Guard and naval personnel, fire department and water supply and sewage department workers and hundreds of volunteers (most of them in orange tracksuits) worked from dawn on Friday to clear the slush.
The oil slick, which started after a leak due to the collision between two ships, carried with it bodies of marine species.
The people cleaning the slush stood in queues, scooping up sludge with their hands and putting them in buckets and passing them on to the others to ferry it further away to be filled in big vats and containers.
Many complained of the strong stench of mud, dead fish and prawns.
Coast Guard inspector general S Paramesh said 72 tonnes of thick, dark muddy and oily sludge have so far been removed from the sea.
He said the work was only half done, as the overall estimate of the sludge – a combination of oil, marine debris and water - was put at 116 tonnes.
The Coast Guard official said the actual oil leak was ten times more than what was originally reported and said the preliminary responsibility for tackling it was that of the Kamarajar port.
According to the Coast Guard, initial information from the management of Kamarajar port at Ennore said just 2 tonnes of oil had leaked after the collision between the two ships – MT Maple and MT Dawn Kanchipuram on January 28.
MT Maple had offloaded its LPG consignment in the port and was leaving when it collided with MT Dawn Kanchipuram that coming into the port, loaded with petrol and lubricants.
“Both the ships have been detained and secured at Kamarajar port and an inquiry is on,” said port chairman cum managing director MA Bhaskarachar.
The captains of both the ships too have been detained along with the crew members, he said.
The ships and crew would not be allowed to leave the port till the probe is over.
The port official, however, denied that there was any delay in response or action from the port.
“There was no oil spillage inside the port and this is my jurisdiction and I can speak only for the port area. Outside the port area, it is the responsibility of other agencies,” Bhaskarachar told a television channel.
Officials said 90% of the damage by the oil slick was limited to the north Chennai area of the coast, which is closer to the port at Ennore.
Fishermen close to the port area in north Chennai said the accident took place around 4am on Saturday (January 28) and instantly, oil started gushing out as if being pumped.
Coast Guard officials, meanwhile, denied that there was any delay in launching operations after assessment of the situation and said that the major damage was limited to just one km near the port in north Chennai.
“Ecological damage would not be very much,” a Coast Guard official said.
Oil spill dispersants are being sprayed in the sea by the authorities to minimise damage to the marine eco system.
“Coast Guard helicopters are carrying out regular sorties for continuous monitoring of the oil slick at sea and near the coast. During sorties, stagnated thick oil slick about 100 metres wide near Ennore chimney and a 50x50-metre patch was observed near Kasimedu harbour,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The Coast Guard has sent ICGS Varad along with an integrated helicopter with pollution control equipment to clear the oil slick, it said.
The cleanup operations could be carry on for another two days, said an official on the spot.
