A day after the collision involving Panamanian cargo ships, MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-III, traffic at the city"s harbour remained suspended.
All the vessel movements are cancelled from Saturday midnight onwards at Mumbai Port and Nhava Sheva.
As a result of MSC Chitra crash with MV Khalijia-III on Saturday a danger of oild spill has emerged. Six vessels from Indian Coast Guard are working to contain the oil spill and to prevent any environmental disaster. The aquatic environment around the coast of Mumbai is delicate and any oil spill would mean disaster to the marine life and to the fishing community. According to current news MSC Chitra is dipping at angle of 45 Degree and is expected to submerge in the Sea near Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai.
Oil and Natural Gas Commission Of India and the Pollution Control Board of Maharashtra has also joined the Indian Coast Gurad in effort to avert oil spill. By the recent photos from the Coast guard there are signs of oil leakage from the tank. Authorities also said that the personals and equipment required for any clean up of the shores due to oil spill have been placed on stand by. MSC Chitra has already dangerously tilted by 80% and around 200 containers have been floating in a radius of 2 miles. MSC Chitra is has a cargo of 88000 tones of lube oil and 239 tonnes of diesel.
Directorate General of Shipping has initiated an investigation into the incident, Directorate General of Shipping"s Chief Nautical Advisor M M Savvi said. According to officials, Chitra was carrying about 1200 containers which had over 266 tonnes of fuel. "Nearly 250 containers have fallen into the sea after the ship tilted further to 75 degrees today," the CG official said. Fishermen were asked not to carry out any fishing activities till the oil spill is contained, he said. MSC Chitra, the outbound merchant vessel from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), collided with MV Khalijia-III around five nautical miles off the shores yesterday when the latter was sailing towards Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) for berthing. The Indian captain and 32 crew members of Chitra were evacuated and the ship was grounded in the vicinity of the Prong Reef Lighthouse.
