Mumbai: Diving operations to plug the oil
leak from the sunken cargo vessel MV Rak could not start for
the second day on Friday due to hostile weather, the Directorate
General of Shipping said.
"The diving operation has ceased due to adverse weather
conditions and will resume when favourable weather and tidal
conditions prevail," a DGS statement said.
The DGS had earlier said a diving operation to plug the
leak will be undertaken on Thursday.
A diving support vessel of ONGC, which has been put on
the job, is present at the site. The DGS said orientation of
the sunken vessel has been completed.
"The layout of the tank arrangements and sources of
pollution such as sounding, filling pipes and air vent
arrangements are being assessed from the ships crew, so that
the exact location can easily be detected by the divers," it
said.
MV Rak sank 20 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai on
August 4 after the rescue of 30 crewmen. At the time of the
incident, it was reportedly carrying 60,000 tonnes of coal
from Indonesia to Gujarat and also had 325 tonnes of fuel oil
and 56 tonnes of diesel which caused environmental damage.
According to the Coast Guard, the estimated quantity of
oil spill is still about 7-8 tonnes per day.
Coast Guard ship Samudra Prahari continues to use oil
spill dispersant to neutralise the affected areas. In
addition, the Coast Guard also conducted the air sorties and
found that oil spill was observed up to 5 Nautical miles.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board
reported minor traces of oil at Juhu Beach, the DGS said.
PTI
