Rs. 3.4 billion claim for MT New Diamond oil spill forwarded to ship owners

The Attorney General has forwarded the marine pollution claim of Rs. 3.423 billion (USD 19.022 million) to lawyers of ship owners of crude oil tanker ‘MT New Diamond’ in respect of the oil spill caused in September 2020, says the AG’s Coordination Officer State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne.

The final report on the settlement of compensation for the damages caused by the ‘MT New Diamond’ crude oil tanker was to be handed over to Attorney General on Thursday (April 08).

A report on the environmental damages caused by the tanker which engulfed in fire on the seas off Sri Lanka was submitted to the Attorney General on a previous occasion.

At around 8.30 am on September 03, 2020, the oil tanker ‘MT New Diamond’, sailing 38 nautical miles off Sangamankanda Point east of Sri Lankan seas, was engulfed by fire following an explosion of a boiler in the main engine room.

The tanker was transporting 270,000 metric tons of crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip when it faced this unfortunate turn of events. It was also reported that 1,700 metric tons of diesel required for the use of the tanker were stored onboard.

The vessel was subsequently towed to safe waters and the Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Sri Lanka Coast Guard, Indian Defence Forces, and the Indian Coast Guard had doused the fire in a joint operation.