Courtesy Adaderana

The fire onboard the crude oil tanker MT New Diamond has been completely doused, the Commander of Sri Lanka Navy confirmed.

However, there still remains a risk of the ship catching on fire again due to the temperature of its current location, the Commander told media following a meeting held with the Attorney General today (06).

The tanker MT New Diamond had been sailing 38 nautical miles off Sangamankanda Point east of Sri Lankan seas at around 8.30 am on Thursday (03), when the unfortunate turn of events unfolded.

Joint operation to control the fire engulfing the oil tanker, which was caused by an explosion of a boiler in the main engine room, was launched responding to a distress signal received by the Navy.

Initially, a group of emergency relief serving ships was promptly dispatched to the location for relief assistance.

According to the distress signal received by the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Center in Colombo, the oil tanker in eastern seas had been manned by 23 crew members including 05 Greek and 18 Philippine nationals and is registered under the Panamanian Flag (IMO-9191424).

Thereby, 22 of the crew members aboard the oil tanker were rescued; however, the preliminary information from the ship’s crew confirmed that a Filipino seaman on board had died in a boiler explosion.

The tanker was transporting 270,000 metric tons of crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip when it faced with this unfortunate situation. It is also reported that 1,700 metric tons of diesel required for the use of the tanker have been stored onboard.

The disaster relief operation was also joined by several vessels and aircrafts of the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy, as well as the Sri Lanka Air Force.

On Friday (04) evening, the distressed tanker was towed away into safe waters and by Saturday (05), the ship had reached 40 nautical miles (about 74 km) away from the shore.

Considering this calamity as an urgent matter of national importance the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Hambantota International Port Group, Colombo Dockyard Limited, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited provided AFFF fire extinguishing chemicals to the Navy through the mediation of Marine Environment Protection Authority.

The owner of the ship took steps to appoint a foreign private company with expertise in disaster relief while working closely with the Sri Lankan and Indian authorities.

At the intervention of the owner of the ship, 10 British and Dutch experts including rescue operation specialists, disaster evaluators and legal consultants arrived at the Mattala International Airport this morning.

Apart from the missing seaman who is believed to be dead, the one undergoing treatment at hospital and distressed ship’s captain, the rest of crew is currently safe onboard Sri Lanka Navy ships in isolation and arrangements will be made for them to be reunited with their families by telephone.

Marine Environment Protection Authority warned that if crude oil starts to leak from vessel it could possibly lead to the largest environmental disaster in the world and not just in the region.

However, Sri Lanka Navy previously confirmed that there is no danger of the ship leaking oil into the sea.