Ship leaks oil after being hit by barge

BHUBANESWAR - An Indian ship leaked about seven to eight tonnes of fuel oil after it was hit by a barge nearly two km off Orissa’s coast near Gopalpur port due to bad weather, a port official said Tuesday.

The non-coking coal laden ship sailing from Indonesia had anchored nearly two km away from the port at Gopalpur in the district of Ganjam, about 170 km from here.

“The barge engaged in cargo operation went out of control due to rough sea conditions and hit the ship,” P.K. Mohapatra, executive director of the Gopalpur port told IANS, adding that the accident took place Monday evening.

“There was a leakage of about seven to eight tonnes of fuel oil from the ship. But the leakage was spotted and contained within half an hour,” he said.

The port authorities have engaged at least 400 workers and officials to remove the oil from the water and coast.

Local television footage showed heavy oil floating near the Rushikulya beach and some of it has washed ashore on the sand.

Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa, said oil has to be recovered and collected from the place so that there is no adverse effect on turtle eggs or the marine fauna.

“More than 100,000 sea turtles had nested last month on the beach. The oil could cause irreversible damage to the eggs and the sea turtle population which are still present at the offshore waters,” he told IANS.

“Marine fauna which are food for the turtles will be severely affected. Oil can be ingested by the turtles which are present now in the offshore waters leading to their death. Dolphins can also be impacted by the oil spill,” he said.

District collector V.K. Pandian said officials have been sent to assess the damage the oil has caused to marine creatures and the environment.