India to deploy two towing vessels for blazing oil tanker

The Union government has decided to deploy two emergency towing vessels to tow the very large crude carrier (VLCC) New Diamond on fire since Thursday morning 37 nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast, the Indian Coast Guard said on Friday.

"No oil spill reported in the area. Two emergency towing vessels being deployed by GoI (Government of India) for #MTNewDiamond," the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard said a two-metre crack has been observed near the Port aft portion of New Diamond, 10 metres above the waterline.

"If the crack propagates, and there is every likelihood of that but cannot be predicted, then the ship's stability could be affected. A ship at a standstill is still subjected to tremendous stresses and could break and capsize," M Kalayanaraman, Technical Editor, Riviera Maritime Media, told IANS.

The oil tanker is within Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone.

Kalyanaraman said if the fire is still raging, it means availability of fuel for the blaze.

"What is not clear is if any of the cargo tanks is affected, or it could be just the ship bunker fuel tanks," Kalyanaraman said.

While the towing exercise is also risky, he asked which port could take in such a large ship.

Meanwhile, the firefighting operations continued for the second day on Friday to put out the blaze on the almost fully loaded oil tanker chartered by the Indian Oil Corporation, the Coast Guard said.

Owing to the concerted joint action by the Coast Guard ships and the Lankan Navy, 22 crew from the oil tanker have been rescued while a search for a missing Filipino crew member is on.

The Coast Guard said that the fire in the crew accommodation area has been doused.

The firefighting operations are in progress in consultation with the tanker's Master on board ICG Shaurya along with tug APL Winger, the Coast Guard added.

Three tugs are engaged in boundary cooling operations.

The Indian coastal security agency has decided to deploy ships Ameya and Abheek and two Dornier aircraft in the firefighting operations.

The oil tanker caught fire on Thursday, 37 nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast.

As per www.marinetraffic.com, the 20-year-old VLCC 'New Diamond' sailing under the Panama flag departed from Mina Al Ahmadi on August 23 and was headed to Paradip port in India.

The oil tanker was expected to reach Paradip in Odisha on September 5 where the IOC has a large refinery.

The Coast Guard said the Sri Lankan Navy had sought assistance to fight the fire and explosion on board New Diamond.

The Coast Guard said on Thursday said that it had diverted three ships -- Shaurya, Sarang, Samudra Paheredar -- and a Dornier aircraft for firefighting operations.

On the other hand, IOC officials were silent on the accident.

According to reports, another oil products tanker Helen M, sailing under the Panama flag, had reached the location of New Diamond for rescue after receiving a distress message. Helen M was sailing from Mangalore to Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.