Mumbai:
Just when things seemed to have settled after the Mumbai ship collision, there is a new crisis. A hundred of the 250 odd containers that had drifted from the vessel MSC Chitra, have gone missing. Two of these containers are carrying hazardous chemical substances.
(In Pictures: Mumbai oil slick)The Navy is conducting a survey of the sea using sonar equipment to try and trace the containers with the help of a salvage team called in from Singapore. The containers, the Navy team says, could be stuck on the ocean bed.
The MSC Chitra had collided with another ship MV Khalijia on August 7 and has been grounded in the Arabian Sea since then off the Mumbai coast. The ship tilted precariously from the impact of the collision. While oil poured out into the sea through a leak, some containers too detatched from the ship. (
Read: Two cargo vessels collide off the coast of Mumbai)
The oil leak was only plugged after hundreds of tonnes of crude oil were already spilt. As a result of this, both Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) were shut for many days.
NDTV reported on the environmental damage due to the spill. The state government confirmed that marine life had been contaminated.
When the MSC Chitra collided with the Khalijia, it had a cargo of 1219 containers. The cargo contained 2662 tonnes of fuel, 283 tonnes of diesel and 88040 litres of lubricant oil. Thirty-one containers held chemical substances.