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Floods may pose another danger: Experts

Last Updated 09 August 2010, 17:49 IST

A ship of that size can change the fish habitat, alter the topography of land nearby and poison the sea in the area for decades once it floods, they said.  However, the key question is whether the shipping authorities have the technology to deal with such a disaster and can the ship, which is broken, be welded where it’s leaking. Can the cargo be lifted off the ship and placed on barges to make the ship lighter and perhaps easier to refloat, is another possibility that officials are discussing. “MSC Chitra has tilted 80 degrees,” Arun Singh, commandant (Operations), coast guard said, adding so far, 300 of the 1,200 containers on the ship have tumbled into the water.

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan did an aerial survey of the spill. The state government sounded an alert for fisherman and others along the coast asking them not to venture out into the sea and has asked people to avoid eating fish.

The Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board has already initiated legal action against owners of the ships,  government sources said.

Maharashtra Environment Minister Suresh Shetty said there was a vessel traffic monitoring system which tracked ships and there seemed to have been a miscommunication between the control and the captains of the ships because of a frequency problem, which indicated a grave lapse in the system. Shetty said both these companies to which these ships belonged would have to bear the cost of the clean-up.

When MSC Chitra collided with Khalijia on Saturday, it had a cargo of 1,219 containers holding 2,662 tonnes of fuel, 283 tonnes of diesel and 88,040 litres of lubricant oil.

Thirty-one containers had pesticide in them. Chitra tilted sharply under the impact of the collision, resulting in the oil spill and now, containers of pesticide bobbing off on the sea. Some of the containers actually drifted near the Gateway of India.

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(Published 09 August 2010, 17:49 IST)

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