Oil spill from capsized ship causing environmental concern

Even as efforts continued to trace the missing crew member of the Eritrean cargo vessel, which capsized off the Mangalore coast on Saturday, the oil spill from the ship has become a major source of concern for the Government authorities.

After visiting Thannirbhavi off the New Mangalore Port, where the shipwreck took place, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district M Maheshwara Rao told reporters that oil had seeped from the sunken vessel and reached the coast, posing an environmental threat. “The oil spill has reached the coast”, he said.

Apart from the seepage of diesel, large amounts of furnace slag the ill-fated ship was carrying had also been washed to the shore, he said. Though it quantity of oil was not immediately known, the cargo vessel Denden was transporting more than 8,000 tonnes of furnace slag to UAE before it overturned in about 250 metres from coast due to high velocity winds.

“The Pollution Control Board officials have already collected samples of water from the coast”, Rao said and added that measures will be taken to check the impact of the oil spill and furnace slag on marine life.

Meanwhile, the captain of capsized ship Abraham Kwaw, who is recuperating in a hospital in Mangalore after local fishermen rescued him, attributed the accident to an “engine failure”.

Speaking to reporters, Abraham Kwaw, a Ghana national, recalled the turbulent time the ship’s crew experienced after the ship’s anchor gave away on Friday, dragging the vessel to Tannirbhavi, about four nautical miles away from the New Mangalore Port.

Kwaw, who has been captaining ships for the last 20 years, said a decision to abandon the ship was taken after contacting his company officials on Saturday morning. “I called the Coast Guard for help at 9 am on Saturday. But, as help was delayed due to rough weather conditions, 12 crew members took a lifeboat and jumped into the waters. The lifeboat went about 10 metres and capsized when a huge wave hit them”, he added. They later swam to the shore with the help of local fishermen.

When the ship sank further by Saturday afternoon, the remaining 12 persons on board the vessel jumped into the sea. With the Coast Guard unable to launch any rescue operations due to rough weather, the local fishermen jumped into the raging waves, risking their lives, and reached out to the crew members, who were struggling to stay afloat against the current.

Out of the 24 people on board the Eritrean cargo vessel, as many as 21 were rescued by the local fishermen. The two persons, who died in the mishap, hailed from Bahrain and Eritrea, officials said.