Five days after tonnes of thick oil has spilled into the Bay of Bengal, affecting the marine life and a long stretch of shoreline, the Indian Coast Guard said that nearly 40 tonnes of oil sludge and 27 tonnes of oil mixed with water were collected so far. .
“As on date, approximately 40 tonnes of oil sludge and 27 tonnes of oil and water mixture were collected and was being dispatched to Kamaraj Port Trust,” the release said.
“It will take at least two days to clear most of the slick at Ennore, where a collision between two ships caused the spill,” the officials said.
Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) raised the issue in Parliament during Zero Hour on February 2 and accused the state government of callousness.
Chennai: Efforts to clear oil spilled after collision between 2 cargo ships off Ennore Port continue pic.twitter.com/D4rq9g6hQ9
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 2, 2017
The collision between liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessel MT BW Maple and oil tanker MT Dawn Kanchipuram took place at 4 a.m. on Saturday off Kamarajar Port in Tamil Nadu, following which the oil spill happened.
#WATCH Chennai: Work to clear oil spilled after collision between 2 cargo ships off Ennore Port,continues;expected to be complete by evening pic.twitter.com/hNU0cKbA5L
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 2, 2017
The Coast Guard personnel are carrying out co-ordination and clean-up efforts with the assistance of personnel from the State Pollution Control Board and other non-government organisations (NGO).
High pressure super-sucker pumps have been pressed into operation to extract the sludge. The collected sludge is being transferred into bowsers. In addition, the inaccessible areas are being cleared manually.
According to the reports, approximately 95 per cent of the oil slick is towards the northern side of Chennai Harbour near R.K. Kuppam Beach.
