Sri Lanka navy fixes fuel leak on fire-stricken oil tanker
13 September, 2020
Sri Lankan army divers fixed a good fuel leak from the engine of a good fire-damaged essential oil tanker off the island's east coast, the navy said Saturday, in a salvage procedure following the huge week-long blaze.
While the navy says no crude oil has escaped the cargo of the New Diamond, leaked diesel fuel had created a two-kilometre-very long slick in the Indian Ocean that was obvious from the air.
The fuel was seeping in to the water through damaged pipes linked to a ballast water intake on the ship's starboard side, according to a navy statement.
That leak was plugged on Friday along with an inlet on the port side of the Panama-authorized tanker, it said.
Dutch salvage company SMIT said its specialists had boarded the crippled vessel and found the 270,000-tonne crude oil cargo unaffected by the fire.
"The cargo tanks with the crude happen to be intact," the company told AFP in The Hague on Friday. "Discussions happen to be ongoing on the destination of the vessel to transfer the crude."
Sri Lanka's environmental authorities fear a marine disaster if the tanker is allowed to transfer its oil to another ship in the country's waters.
The fire was completely doused on Wednesday, but an unspecified amount of the ship's 1,700 tonnes of fuel leaked when storage tanks ruptured in the blaze that destroyed the engine room and much of the vessel's super-structure.
"The Sri Lankan navy, the Indian Coast Safeguard (ICG) and tug boats which were engaged in fire-fighting remain in the region," the navy said.
It added that an Indian aircraft used to spray chemical substances to disperse the diesel slick during the past two days was about standby.
Sri Lanka has asked the ship's owners to tow it from the country's special economic zone, or perhaps 370 kilometres (231 miles) from its coast.
The New Gemstone issued a distress signal yesterday while passing Sri Lanka on its way to the northeast Indian port of Paradip when a boiler exploded, killing a Filipino crewman.
The rest of the 22 crew were rescued.
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