10 crew members of Asian Forest freed

All the 18 crew members were staying in a lodge in Mangalore ever since the mishap took place. Additional Deputy Commissioner Prabhakar Sharma told Deccan Herald that the Union Ministry of Shipping had issued an order asking the district administration to allow crew members to return to their homes.

‘No provision in law’

Sharma said that there is no provision in the law to hold crew members from going back to their home country. Crew members were allowed to leave for China following Chinese Embassy’s   interference and Union Ministry’s order, he said adding that they left                   the city in two batches of five members each on two separate days.

Oil removal within 30 days

Talking about the salvage operations to remove about 366 metric tonnes of fuel and 45 tonnes of diesel from the sunken vessel M V Asian Forest, Sharma said that the district administration is in touch with the owners and agents of the ship. “They have agreed to remove the oil from the ship within 30 days,” he said adding that equipments will reach the Mangalore shore within few days.

The vessel with 2007 registration had sailed out from New Mangalore Port with 13,600 MT of iron ore fines to Zhavgjiagang in China at around 9.30 am on July 17. All the 18 crew members including captain Yin Shang Yan were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard ship ‘ICGS Sankalp’ after the vessel was capsized due to listing. The vessel was grounded to about 27 meter depth off the coast of Mangalore at around 1.40 pm on July 19.