Oilspill on as cargo ship tilts further off Mumbai coast

A cargo ship, which collided with another vessel a few nautical miles off the coast in Mumbai, continues to spill oil for the second consecutive day as it further tilted, dropping more oil containers into sea, as the Coast Guard carried out anti-pollution operations.

A day after the collision involving Panamanian cargo ships -- MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-III --, traffic at the city's harbour remained suspended.

The coast guard, in its bid to contain the spill, pressed into service five ships and two helicopters with anti-pollution dispersal spray systems.

"Traffic has been suspended as the containers are still sighted floating into the channel thus making navigation hazard," a Coast Guard official said.

Officials are yet to locate the leakage as some portion of Chitra has submerged into the water.

Meanwhile, the directorate general of Shipping has initiated an investigation into the incident, Directorate General of Shipping's Chief Nautical Advisor M M Savvi said, adding "the coast guard and senior officials (directorate general of shipping) are now at the site".

According to officials, Chitra was carrying about 1,200 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 official said.

Additional Coast Guard Pollution Response Equipment has also been mobilised from Goa and assistance is also being taken from ONGC, JNPT and other agencies.

The thick oil slick has been sighted 1.5 to 2 miles around the vessel Chitra.

The state administration, Pollution Control Board, Maharashtra Maritime Board and the Bombay History Natural Society have been kept on high alert for mobilisation of response resources for shore clean up.

Fishing association has been requested not to carry out any fishing activities till the oil spill is contained, officials said.

Thirty-three crewmembers, including two Pakistanis, were rescued following the incident.

MSC Chitra, the outbound merchant vessel from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, collided with MV Khalijia-III, five nautical miles from the shores at 0950 hours yesterday when the latter was sailing towards Mumbai Port Trust, off Mumbai harbour, for berthing.