Taking stock of the situation emerging from the sinking of a container ship off coast of Kerala, a high-level meeting was held on Sunday, in which it was said that around 100 containers are likely to have fallen into the sea.
The Coast Guard had earlier said in a post on X that the Liberian-flagged vessel, MSC ELSA 3, was carrying 13 containers with “hazardous cargo” and 12 with calcium carbide. It also said the ship had “84.44 metric tonnes of diesel and 367.1 metric tonnes of furnace oil in its tanks”. The vessel had started tilting 38 nautical miles off the coast of Kochi on Saturday and completely capsized on Sunday. All crew members have been rescued.
An official communication from the Kerala Chief Minister’s Office after the meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Dr A Jayathilak on Sunday said the containers are most likely to reach the coastal areas of Alappuzha, Kollam, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.
“As the oil slick can reach anywhere along the Kerala coast, an alert has been sounded across the coastal belt. The containers are drifting in the sea at a speed of 3 km per hour. Besides, the oil in the fallen containers and the marine fuel used in the ship has also leaked. At present, the Coast Guard has deployed two ships and a Dornier aircraft to mitigate oil spilling,” said the release.
It was said in the meeting that the ship completely submerged at around 14.6 nautical miles off Thottappally on the Alappuzha coast. Fishing in a 20-nautical-mile area from the sunken ship has been banned. This is in addition to a standing instruction against fishing in the wake of heavy rain.
The Director General of the Coast Guard, who is also the chairman of the National Oil Spill Response Plan, is taking necessary steps to contain the oil spill. People living in coastal areas and fishermen were advised not to touch or go near objects or containers that may reach the shore. They were told to stay at least 200 metres away from containers.
Other decisions taken in the meeting are: if containers get washed ashore, the Factories and Boilers Department has been asked to make ready two Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) each in southern and central Kerala districts, and one each in the northern districts.
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The Coast Guard, the Port Department and the Navy have been instructed to mobilise more containment booms — floating barriers used to contain oil spills — as well as skimmers and other resources to handle oil spill contingencies. Special instructions have been given to the districts and departments to handle containers, oil slicks and oil going down to the seabed.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Navy, Coast Guard and collectors of all coastal districts, as well as senior state bureaucrats.
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