Kerala - Kochi   

No request received to de-fuel sunk ship, says Coast Guard

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The Coast Guard has said that they have not got any request from the Cochin Port Trust to drain fuel from m.v. Maria, the merchant vessel that sank off Kochi coast on Saturday evening.

The DIG (Kerala and Lakshadweep) of the Coast Guard, V D Chafekkar said the vessel’s wreckage was now within the jurisdiction of the port trust. “The port trust has so far not asked us to intervene and prevent spillage of fuel. We will mobilise our resources and act as per the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, if the situation gets beyond the control of the port trust.”

He refuted some reports which stated that the Coast Guard did not act promptly to distress calls from the ship. “The vessel developed trouble on June 22. We had sent a helicopter, followed by an aircraft on June 24. The ship officials said that flooding due to leakage was well under control and so they flew back to the mainland,” Mr Chafekkar said.

Port trust sources refuted allegations that the port trust was slow in reacting to SOS calls from the ship.

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