Indian Coast Guard On Alert As Oil Spill Reported From Container Ship South East Of Chennai Coast

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) reported that it received information from Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo about a mid-sea oil spill about 450 km South-East of Chennai.

On further investigation, it was revealed that a Portuguese flag Container ship MV Devon, on passage from Colombo to Haldia, West Bengal, developed an underwater crack in the fuel tank containing about 120 KL of very low sulphur fuel oil.

The ICG said it is in continuous contact with MV Devon, and the master has reported that the vessel is stable. ICG Pollution response team at Chennai has been alerted and kept on standby. In addition, ICG ships and aircraft deployed at sea are also alert in pollution response configuration.