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Traces of oil spill around grounded vessel

Special Correspondent

PANAJI: After spotting traces of an oil spill near the grounded vessel, Ocean Sekaya, the Indian Coast Guard on Wednesday initiated measures to contain any possible damage to the Karwar coast. The Japanese vessel flying a Panama flag partially sank after hitting a rock in rough seas off the Karwar coast on Tuesday.

Commandant M.D. Prasad, Coast Guard Public Relations Officer, Goa Headquarters, told The Hindu on Wednesday that traces of the oil spill stretching around 3 km north and south of the grounded vessel were noticed. The vessel is estimated to have around 650 tonnes of furnace oil and around 40 tonnes of diesel.

"As of now the situation is not at all alarming," he said, but added that precautionary pollution response measures have been planned to avert any damage to the coast. The managers of the vessel will be sending equipment by Thursday to tow away the vessel from the coast with the help of the Karwar Port authorities.

He said Coast Guard helicopters continued their sorties on Wednesday to search for the missing sailor, with little luck. While the Coast Guard rescued 19 crew members, one sailor, who reportedly jumped into the sea to swim ashore, is feared dead. The official also said that helicopter sorties to trace a missing sailor from the Kerala-based trawler "Selvamath," which capsized off the Goa coast on Tuesday, also did not meet with success.

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Traces of oil spill around grounded vessel

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