Oil leakage off Orissa beach cleared

BHUBANESWAR - About 90 per cent of the oil that leaked from an Indian ship two km off the Gopalpur port in Orissa Monday and was scattered on the coast after being pushed by a tide has been cleaned, a port official said Wednesday.

“About three hundred workers carried out the clean-up operation at the Rushikulya beach Wednesday under the supervision of Coast Guard personnel,” P.K. Panigrahi, a senior official of the Gopalpur port, told IANS.

“About 90 per cent of the leaked oil has been cleared from the beach. Whatever is left would be removed in one day,” he added.

The ship, laden with non-coking coal and sailing from Indonesia, had anchored nearly two km away from the port at Gopalpur in Ganjam district, about 170 km from here, when a barge hit it causing oil leak Monday evening.

“The barge engaged in cargo operation went out of control due to rough sea conditions and hit the ship,” Panigrahi said, adding that the leakage was spotted and contained within half an hour.

More than 100,000 Olive Ridley turtles had nested last month on the Rushikulya beach and millions of eggs were laid by them. An oil coat was found spread over a seven km area off the beach - just 200 metres from the site of the eggs, Wild life expert Biswajit Mohanty had said.

He apprehended that the oil could pose a threat not only to the eggs but also to thousands of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles which are still present at the offshore waters.

“Now there is absolutely no threat to the eggs laid by the turtles as the oil has almost been cleaned from the beach,” Panigrahi said, adding that no oil was found floating on the sea water.