Two Panamanian cargo ships — MSC Chitra and Merchant Vessel Khalija — today collided off the Mumbai coast causing 200 litres of hydraulic oil to spill from one of the vessels. There were no casualties and all the 33 crew members including two Pakistanis were rescued following the incident, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) officials said.
Coast Guard officials and environmentalists say the oil spillage as “minor’’ and not a concern.
The preliminary cause of the collision is suspected to be navigational error on the part of one or both the ships’ captains.
The collision happened at 9.45am as Chitra was proceeding to sea from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Khalija was heading towards the port. Officials said that the inbound Khalija-3 tried to contact Chitra on all VHF channels requesting to change the direction, but there was no response from the outbound ship.
Said Rakesh Kumar, head of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, “Compared to the wide water expanse, the amount of oil spill is small. The oil will either dissipate or form par balls and sink to the bottom in 2-3 days.’’
He added, “The major environment concern is the diesel oil spilled by trawlers on the entire route from Gateway of India to Elephanta Caves. The smell is so strong that it causes breathlessness to humans and even aquatic organisms who would not be getting fresh oxygen due to oil on the surface.’’
Dr Sarang Kulkarni, a marine biologist said, “A 200-litre oil spill will have negligible impact on the marine life. Also, the sea water right now is choppy and the oil and hydro-carbons will disintegrate very quickly. A major impact can be seen only if there is oil spill of over 1000 to 2000 litres. Maharashtra has high population of porpoise and they will be affected badly in such cases.”
