Navy plugs fuel leak on MT New Diamond

Sri Lankan Navy on Friday said that it had plugged the fuel leak on MT New Diamond, the oil tanker that was on fire for almost a week. The fire was doused on Wednesday by Indian Navy and Sri Lankan Navy. On Friday, Sri Lankan military divers fixed the fuel leak from the engine of the oil tanker.

Sri Lankan Navy and Indian Coast Guard both have said that there was no oil spill from the oil cargo of the ship. However, fuel of the ship was leaking from a fuel tank and created a two-kilometre long trail in the ocean. This trail was visible even from the air.

The fuel was seeping into the water through damaged pipes connected to a ballast water intake on the ship’s starboard side, according to a navy statement.

Dutch salvage company SMIT said its experts had boarded the crippled vessel and found the 270,000-tonne crude oil cargo unaffected by the fire.

“The cargo tanks with the crude are intact,” the firm told AFP in The Hague on Friday. “Discussions are 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.

Sri Lanka has asked the ship’s owners to tow it away from the country’s exclusive economic zone, or 370 kilometres (231 miles) from its coast.

MT New Diamond is a Greek-owned ship that was chartered by Indian Oil. It was hauling crude oil from Kuwait to Paradip in Odisha. The fire at the ship started because of a blast in the ship’s engine room on September 3. Joint efforts by Indian and Sri Lankan Navy brought the fire under control but it reignited on September 7. Firefighting efforts ensured that the fire was completely doused on September 9.

-Agencies