Indian Coast Guard On Alert As Oil Spill Reported From Container Ship South East Of Chennai Coast

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) reported that it received information from Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo about a mid-sea oil spill about 450 km South-East of Chennai.

On further investigation, it was revealed that a Portuguese flag Container ship MV Devon, on passage from Colombo to Haldia, West Bengal, developed an underwater crack in the fuel tank containing about 120 KL of very low sulphur fuel oil.

The crack resulted in the spillage of about 10 KL of oil into the sea before preventive action was taken, and the remaining oil in the tank was transferred to another tank by the ship’s crew. The vessel is carrying 10,795 tonnes of general cargo in 382 containers and manned by 17 crew. The ship is continuing its voyage to Haldia and is likely to reach on Friday (18 June).

The ICG said it is in continuous contact with MV Devon, and the master has reported that the vessel is stable. ICG Pollution response team at Chennai has been alerted and kept on standby. In addition, ICG ships and aircraft deployed at sea are also alert in pollution response configuration.