What happened?
Around 2 am on January 28, two cargo ships collided in the sea off suburban Ennore near the city of Chennai. The accident occurred when ‘M T BW Maple’ with a flag of Isle of Man was leaving the Kamarajar port after emptying Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and M T Dawn, Kanchipuram, loaded with petroleum oil lubricant (POL) was on its way to the berth at the Ennore port. The port is less than 30 kilometres from Chennai. The port authorities had initially said there were no casualties, injuries or damage to the environment. But later on January 31, Tiruvallur District Collector E Sundaravalli clarified that the shoreline in and around Ennore and Kasimedu in north Chennai was hit by an oil spill.
WATCH VIDEO | Thousands Of People Gather To Clean Oil Spill Near Chennai After Two Ships Collide
A senior port official told The Indian Express the leakage occurred much later, ostensibly due to the long delay in controlling the situation. “We estimate that a crack on the fuel part was developed eventually and led to the leakage. We haven’t estimated the amount of oil spilled,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
What’s the extent of the spill?
State Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar said in the Assembly, “One tonne oil has leaked”, which resulted in floating oil slicks on the sea.
What was the next step by authorities?
Three days after the accident, the coast guard along with the officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board were scrambling to contain the oil spill. Sundaravalli, on Jan 31, said three Chennai Metro Water’s super suckers (machines, mounted on trucks) were being deployed to remove the oil spill. Super suckers are normally used by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to clear silt. Sundaravalli told PTI the Coast Guard was trying to remove the oil spill manually and also monitoring its spread and removal by pressing its choppers into action.
What has been the effect so far?
Officials have been studying the impact of the spill on the marine life. While a section of the sea water had blackened post the spill, some turtles were found dead near the north Chennai shoreline. Leader of Opposition MK Stalin said in the Assembly that the oil spill had led to a situation where the fish were facing death and the fishermen in the locality could not be put out to sea for fishing.
What is the present status of the cleaning efforts?
As of February 1, more than 300 people, including Coast Guard personnel and local fishermen, were engaged in removing the oil slick with buckets from the shorelines after complaints of absence of equipment. The fisheries minister said steps would be taken to ensure that fishermen and their livelihood would not be affected. He also said oil dispersants would be procured to limit the damage of the spill.
Environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman told The News Minute that the authorities messed up after the accident. He said there was no immediate response to the spill.
The district collector told news agency ANI today that while 45 metric tons of oil mixture has been removed, 20 metric tons will be removed by the evening.