Defuelling of sunken vessel will be completed in a month’s time, says DC

Measures have been taken for the defuelling of the sunken vessel M V Princess Miral. The vessel ran aground a few nautical miles away from Ullal on June 21 last year.

Deputy Commissioner Ravi Kumar M R said that the process of removing fuel commenced 10 days ago and will be completed in a month's time.

“Initially, the district administration had contacted the owners who failed to turn up. Later, we contacted the insurance company and they in turn approached DG Shipping, following which the Bansal Group was approached to undertake the process. All necessary NoCs were given from all the Departments of Fire, Police, Revenue and Coast Guard, Pollution Control Board and Port Authority,'' he added.

After obtaining necessary permissions, the company staff were trained in Mumbai for about a month on necessary measures to be taken for the removal of fuel without any spillage, he said.

“We want the safe removal of diesel and furnace oil from the vessel. After this, permission will be given to remove the steel coil. Later, we will take a call on the salvage operation of wreck,” the DC said.

The vessel was carrying 8,000 metric tonnes of steel coil and 220 tonnes of fuel. The 15 Syrians national mariners on board of the vessel had abandoned the 32-year-old ship due to a breech in hull and ingress of water in holds.

The ship, sailing under the flag of Belize, was scheduled to reach Suez Port in Egypt on July 3. The mariners were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard.

After the completion of the necessary formalities, the Syrian mariners returned to their native on September 1.

As soon as the vessel ran aground, as a precautionary measure, inter-tidal booms were laid at the Nethravati river's mouth. The Indian Coast Guard ships and aircraft monitored the grounded vessel for any oil spill.

DK District Disaster Management Authority had conducted a mock drill on sea shore clean up in case of oil spillage and had trained over 400 people in tackling the situation as a preparedness to tackle any eventualities in case of oil spill.