NEW DELHI: Shri Mansukh Mandavyia, MoS (IC) Shipping, Govt. of India on 19 September 2020 had an interaction with DG, Indian Coast Guard in New Delhi about the rescue operations of ‘MT New Diamond’.

 

MT New Diamond is a very large crude carrier. On 3rd September 2020, the ship caught fire off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, resulting in the death of a Filipino crew member.

 

The ship was at that time about 65 kilometres east of Sri Lanka in the Sangaman Kanda Point. At the time, the ship was carrying 270,000 tonnes of oil from Kuwait to the Paradip refinery in India, with 18 Filipino and five Greek crewmembers on board. The cargo was loaded on 23rd August 2020 at Mina al Ahmadi and was due to arrive at Paradip on 5th September. The ship was chartered for the voyage by the Indian Oil Corporation. After burning intermittently for almost a week, the fire was reported to be extinguished by 11th September, 2020.

 

Indian Coast Guard’s timely action resulted in NO Oil Spill and minimal damage. It was indeed one of the biggest rescue operations in the maritime history of the world.