Supply vessel, barge collide off Mumbai coast

Initial reports said the vessel was sinking but Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) officials later asserted that no vessel was capsized nor were there any casualties.

“A supply vessel came in contact with a barge carrying steel coils.

The barge listed about seven degrees as a result,” an official said.

Meanwhile, almost all the containers that fell into the sea from MSC Chitra following a collision with MV Khalijia-III on August 7 have been removed, the official said.

The containers that fell into the sea have either been removed or been identified.

There are no containers floating on the sea anymore. Officials involved in rescue operations are using solar equipment to detect containers that have sunk.

The exercise has been going on around the entire area of Mumbai coast and while not all the containers have been taken out, those remaining have either been damaged or probably submerged, the official said.

Several measures have also been taken to contain the oil spill threatening marine life along the Konkan coast by the port trust in coordination with the Maharashtra State Pollution control Board and other government agencies.

The vessel MSC Chitra, the outbound merchant ship from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, collided with MV Khalijia-III around 9.50 am on August 7 when the latter was sailing towards MPT off Mumbai harbour for berthing.