NEW DELHI (INDIA) – Sri Lanka Navy said in a statement on Wednesday that yet another blaze onboard a supertanker loaded with 2 million barrels of oil was doused and the vessel was being towed to deep sea.
“The disaster management team early this morning succeeded in dousing the fire that reignited on September 7th on the MT New Diamond crude oil carrier due to bad weather,” said the Sri Lanka Navy, adding the ship is now 37 nautical miles (68 km) off the east coast of the island nation.
Officials are working to ascertain the extent of damage to the environment and marine life from the mishap. On September 3, a fire broke out in the engine room of the New Diamond supertanker.
On Tuesday, the navy spotted an oil slick a kilometre away from the vessel, which was chartered by Indian Oil Corp to ferry 2 million barrels of crude from Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip.