Oil clean-up complete after ships collide off Mumbai

Clean-up operations have been completed after two ships collided of the coast of Mumbai. The two Panamanian ships, the MV Khalija-III and the MSC Chitra collided on the 7th of August. One of the ships, the MSC Chitra, capsized as a result of the collision and spilled its cargo containing diesel and oil lubricants into the sea.

The clean up operation has taken five weeks to complete as the oil spill covered nearly two nautical miles. The Chief Officer of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) stated:

“We have four specialised tug boats standby around the Chitra. These tug boats are equipped with oil spill cleanup measures ... if any oil is there, even small traces of oil, they get to the oil point, they disperse the oil and make sure that the oil does not become a hazard,

“All the containers that were floating have been retrieved, and put on barges and taken ashore ... .”

In total over 3,000 tonnes of oil/fuel were spilt so the spill containment processes had to be up to standard to deal with the spill.