Firefighters battle tanker blaze for 2nd day off Sri Lanka coast

The fire fighting operations are in progress in consultation with the Master of the oil tanker on board of ICG Ships Shaurya along with tug APL Winger. The fire in the oil tankers' crew accommodation area has been successfully doused.

Chennai:Fire fighting operations are continuing for a second day to douse the blaze on the New Diamond - an oil tanker chartered by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the Indian Coast Guard has said.

According to the Coast Guard, the fire in the oil tankers' crew accommodation area has been successfully doused.

A two-meter crack has been observed near Port aft portion 10 meters above the waterline, it added.

Three tugs are being engaged in boundary cooling operations.

Read |India sends ships, aircraft to battle oil tanker fire off Lanka

The Indian coastal security agency has decided to deploy additional ships Ameya and Abheek and two Dornier aircraft are also being used for air efforts.

The oil tanker chartered by IOC was laden with a near full load of its capacity 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 heading to Paradip port in India.

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

The vessel's deadweight tonnage (DWT) is 299986 t, the length is 333 meters and the width is 60 meters.

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

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

However, IOC officials remained silent on the accident.

Seeing the pictures of the ship on fire, a marine engineer told that the engine room is gutted and it is not known whether the pump room -- where the pumps to pump out the crude oil are located -- too have been damaged.

He said if the pump room is damaged then it will be a great challenge to pump out the oil.

According to reports, another ship Helen M an oil products tanker sailing under the Panama flag on receipt of a distress message had gone to the location of New Diamond for rescue.

Helen M was sailing from Mangalore to Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

(IANS)