Over two dozen containers from capsized ship land on Kerala shores
The Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3 bound for Kochi from Vizhinjam port listed in heavy weather on Saturday and later sank on Sunday, scattering many of its 643 containers--including 13 with hazardous cargo-- into the sea. All 24 crew of the ship were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the Navy.
An official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said Monday evening that around 30 cargo containers from the capsized vessel were beached in the districts of Alappuzha and Kollam and that none were found to contain hazardous substances. While many were empty , some contained glass, green tea and cotton, said officials and ministers.
Three ships and an aircraft of the coast guard, meanwhile, were tracking fuel that spilled from the vessel's tanks and taking steps such as spraying dispersants to contain the spill, a defence spokesperson said.
The state government had issued an alert on Sunday and warned people to stay away from the containers. Besides the hazardous cargo, around 12 containers had calcium carbide — a chemical that reacts dangerously with seawater to release highly flammable acetylene gas.
Confirming some of the containers were empty, M Kalaiyarasan, an NDRF inspector leading a unit in Kollam , told HT : 'We will make an assessment of the containers found so far and discuss with the incident commander before removing them from the coast. The containers are likely to be moved temporarily to Kollam harbour.'
Sekhar Lukose Kuriakose, member secretary of the Kerala state disaster management authority and the chief resilience officer, said that NDRF's specialised unit from Koodankulam was ready to handle those that may contain dangerous goods.
'The others will be managed by local salvagers and moved to either Kollam or Ernakulam ports. The containers that reached the coast already were empty and therefore travelled faster. For the containers that will continue to drift in the sea, the shipping company has been asked to formulate a mitigation plan as per maritime law,' said Kuriakose, adding that there were zero chances of radioactive waste.
Union Ports and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on 'X' that he held a detailed review meeting with the Director General of Shipping, Secretary (Shipping) and other senior officials on the measures to be taken.
The minister added that respresentativesof MSC , the company that operates the vessel, have arrived in Kochi and have been advised to visit both the Indian Coast Guard and Mercantile Marine Department offices. MSC is tracking the beached containers and is deploying personnel to secure them in place. A salvage firm, T&T Salvage, is in Kochi to coordinate the salvage operations with the local administration. he said.
State agriculture minister P Prasad who took stock of the situation in Alappuzha said Customs officers have been tasked with assessing the containers and the cargo inside before they can be taken away from the coast.
A high-level meeting convened by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday assessed that of the 643 containers aboard the ship, 73 were empty and 12 contained hazardous cargo. Since the accident has been tagged as a tier-2 maritime incident, the chief minister's office said all response measures are being coordinated with national agencies and facilities and overseen by the Director General of the Coast Guard, who is also the head of the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan.
K Rajan, the minister in charge of disaster management, said being a tier-2 maritime incident, the Centre and its agencies will take full security responsibility.
With regard to the oil spill from the leakage of fuel from the vessel, the Defence Ministry spokesperson in Kochi said three vessels of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) namely Vikram, Saksham and Samarth are engaged in a pollution response by utilising infra-red cameras to detect the oil spill area and applying dispersants to contain the its spread.
'An ICG Dornier aircraft equipped with specialised gear has been positioned in Kochi to undertake aerial assessment of the situation. Additionally, a dedicated Pollution Control vehicle named Samudra Prahari is being mobilised from Mumbai to further augment oil spill response efforts. ICG officials at DHQ-4 are maintaining constant communication with other government officials in an advisory capacity for any shoreline cleanup operation,' the ministry said.
Inclement weather and low visibility hampered the efforts of the ICG aircraft in the early morning hours of Monday, the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, a team from the Aquatic Biology and Fisheries department at Kerala University, on directions of the state government, on Monday collected samples of seawater from where the containers washed ashore.
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