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Disaster management teams on alert in Panadura:
Oil prevented from reaching the shore
by Dhaneshi YATAWARA
The latest environment disaster is taking place in the seas off
Panadura as the ship Cyprus-flagged MV Thermopylae Sierra is sinking,
making both parties of the dispute losers. A strip of oil, hundred
metres in width and around five nautical miles long, has spread towards
Colombo, as per the situation report available on Friday. The condition
of the marine world underneath is yet to be estimated.
The MV Thermopylae sank six to eight nautical miles off the Panadura
coastal line.
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Thermopylae Sierra was a 155 metres
long and 127 metres wide ship |
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A section of the
damaged ship |
The Disaster Management Centre currently working jointly with the Sri
Lanka Navy said that hundreds of volunteers are trained to remove oil
from the shores.
The director General of the Marine Environment Protection Authority
Rear Admiral S.R. Samaratunga said that oil would not reach the coast
unless there was a change in the direction of ocean currents.
Oil removed
According to the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA)
around 250 tons of oil was removed from the ship coordinated through the
Director General of Commercial Shipping of the Ministry of Ports. Yet
there is still nearly 70 tons of oil inside the damaged ship.
The threat still remains. According to the authorities several
barrels of diesel are still inside as well. These were the fuel used by
the power generators of the ship.
The Cyprus-flagged MV Thermopylae Sierra, made in 1985 was crossing
the Sri Lankan Waters sailing towards Arabian zone when the dispute
erupted between the ship employees and the owners. A court case was
filed in the Commercial High Court of Sri Lanka and on a court order the
ship was taken into custody and anchored in Sri Lankan waters.
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Damaged interior of the
ship |
Thermopylae Sierra was a 155 metres long and 127 metres wide ship. It
was carrying 15,612 tons of goods and 350 tons of oil at the time of the
dispute. She was abandoned in the sea neglected and without maintenance
since then. Due to the naturally occurring deterioration the ship was a
threat to the marine environment and many parties reported the
Environment protecting authorities to take appropriate action.
Removal
On May 3, 2012 Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa,
following an extended discussion with the relevant authorities, directed
the removal of the ship to a safer place and to remove possible
pollutants from the ship.
The MEPA, as per the Marine Pollution Prevention Act of 2008 has the
powers to order the staff or the owners of ship to take a specified
action to prevent pollution when there are clear evidence to a possible
pollution. May 2012 was the season for Southwest monsoon. Thus the
decision was taken to close damaged holes in the ship avoiding any oil
leakage and take the ship to the seas off Trincomalee as the monsoon was
not in effect in the East of the country. On May, the Cabinet of
Ministers were informed about the action the Ministry of Environment
took and the Cabinet of Ministers have clearly given directions on what
need to be done on their decisions taken on May 23.
On May 25, while the repair work was going on, the Director General
of Commercial Shipping informs the MEPA the court order to halt the
removal of the ship as the ship owners have forwarded an appeal in the
Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka. According to the Ministry of Environment,
the Courts have given permission for the owners to take the ship to a
safer place yet the owners neglected to do so. Though the MEPA
authorities appeared in the courts at the case hearings in June and July
2012 the court decision was only extended. Thus, the MEPA had not been
able to take any action to remove the ship from the Panadura sea,
according to the Ministry of Environment.
Though there are legal provisions for Sri Lanka to claim damages from
the owners and MEPA will be taking legal action against the ship owners
the damage to the marine environment will be repairable. The only option
that remains is preventing an extensive damage to the environment.
Action is taken to prevent oil flowing towards the coast. According to
MEPA oil booms and dispersant would be put in place if the need arises.
Booms are one of the tools that oil cleanup crews are using to prevent
the oil contamination of the beach. The oil reaching the shore depends
on the direction of the water currents, wind speed and the strength of
the waves. According to the Ministry of Environment, MEPA jointly with
the Disaster Management Centre are constantly on the alert to prevent
any such disaster.
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