Experts join efforts to salvage burning tanker off Sri Lanka

Coastguard ships and fireboats fight to extinguish the fire on the Panama-flagged crude oil vessel MT New Diamond off the east coast of Sri Lanka, on September, 202 60, in this photo supplied by the Sri Lankan Air Force Media. EPAShow less

A team of experts is joining efforts on Sunday to salvage a large oil tanker which has been burning off Sri Lanka for four days, the country’s navy said.

Four tugboats, three Sri Lankan navy ships and six Indian ships have been battling the fire on the MT New Diamond since Thursday. An additional five Sri Lankan coastguard ships and gunboats are supplying the other vessels.

Navy spokesman Indika de Silva said the fire has been brought under control but not extinguished. There was no leak.

A team led by an expert is already on one of the tugboats while another 10 British and Dutch professionals including rescue operation specialists, disaster evaluators and legal consultants are expected to join the mission on Sunday, the navy said.

The military helicopter, coast guard ships and fireboats battle to extinguish the fire from the Panama-flagged crude oil vessel MT New Diamond at off the east coast of Sri Lanka. EPA

The MT New Diamond, which was carrying 270,000 metric tons of crude oil from Kuwait, was on its way to the Indian port of Paradip when it caught fire. EPA

The military helicopter, coast guard ships and fireboats battle to extinguish the fire from MT New Diamond at off the east coast of Sri Lanka. EPA

The military helicopter, coast guard ships and fireboats battle to extinguish the fire from MT New Diamond at off the east coast of Sri Lanka. EPA

A chopper flies through smoke rising from the MT New Diamond, off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka Air Force via AP

A ship battles the fire on MT New Diamon. Sri Lanka Air Force via AP

With engines shut down, the tanker, carrying about two million barrels of crude oil, drifted about 20 nautical miles (37 kilometres) from Sri Lanka’s eastern coast on Friday before a tugboat towed it farther out to sea. It was located about 40 nautical miles off of the coast on Sunday.

As ships and helicopters continued to douse flames, the navy said there was a risk of occasional fires due to deep sea winds but they were being controlled.

The fire killed one crew member and injured another. Both are Filipino. Its injured third engineer was admitted to hospital in a stable condition.

The tanker had 23 crew members – 18 Filipinos and five Greeks. Twenty-one crew left the tanker uninjured as the fire burned.

The blaze began in an engine room boiler but had not spread to the tanker’s oil storage area and no leak has been reported, the navy said.

The tanker was transporting about 270,000 tonnes of crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip, where the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation has a refinery.

Sri Lankan officials warned of possible massive environmental damage if the ship leaked or exploded.

The head of the Marine Environment Protection Authority, Darshani Lahandapur, said Sri Lanka did not have the resources or capacity to combat such a massive disaster and had appealed for help from regional countries. She said her organisation planned to take legal action over the fire.

Sri Lankan officials said they were considering a ship-to-ship transfer of the crude before salvaging the tanker.

The vessel is larger than the Japanese bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which crashed into a reef in Mauritius in July and leaked more than 1,000 tonnes of oil into the island nation's pristine waters.

The Maldives, which is near Sri Lanka, has raised concern that any oil spill from the New Diamond could cause serious environmental damage in the atoll of more than 1,000 coral islands, which is heavily dependent on tourism and fishing.