Coast Guard, Kerala in race to stave off marine disaster | India News
KOCHI: Three capital ships – ICG Samarth, ICG Saksham and ICG Vikram – were deployed off Kochi coast Monday and a pollution response vessel set sail from Mumbai to help stave off the threat of a marine disaster from chemical and oil-laden containers washing ashore from the Liberian ship MSC ELSA 3 that capsized and sank near Thottappally harbour in Alappuzha the previous morning.The accelerated response also involved tug boats to move the 29 cargo containers and assorted debris – thermocol, powder and textiles – spotted floating along the Kollam coast.Union shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who took stock of the response at a meeting with the DG and secretary of shipping, wrote on X that all efforts were focused on “complete salvage of marine fuel and other hazardous materials” transported in the containers. “The pollution response vessel Sagar Prahari is en route to the site. Regular aerial surveillance is being carried out using Dornier aircraft equipped with the MSS 6000 system to monitor any oil spillage. All four company representatives of MSC have arrived in Kochi,” he said.The DG of shipping is probing the circumstances in which the Liberian vessel reported a critical “26-degree list” (tilt) towards starboard side when it was around 38 nautical miles southwest of Kochi. The vessel sank 14.6 nautical miles off Thottappally at 7.50am on Sunday.“The logbook should say if there were any collisions or other impediments on the way. When exactly they realised the listing should find mention too,” an official said.The mercantile marine dept in Kochi has already issued a pollution liability warning to the vessel owners, M/s MSC, under Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. MSC has appointed TT Salvage for container recovery, oil removal, and environmental clean-up.CM Pinarayi Vijayan convened another emergency meeting Monday to review the situation, after which his office outlined the series of steps aimed at safeguarding the coastal population, averting an environmental crisis, and coordinating response mechanisms involving state and national agencies.
