Sri Lanka assessing environmental damage from oil tanker fire

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

Sri Lanka’s government is sending scientists to determine whether a three-day fire on a giant oil tanker off its coast damaged the marine environment, an official said on Monday.

Ships and helicopters from the country and neighbouring India extinguished the fire on the MT New Diamond – carrying about two million barrels of crude oil – on Sunday. The fire killed one Filipino crew member and injured another.

Navy spokesman Indika de Silva said that although the main fire has been extinguished, “occasional small-scale fires are taking place from time to time”. Firefighters have doused them as they continue spraying water to cool the ship.

The general manager of Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority, Terney Pradeep, said the scientists from state agencies and universities will prepare a risk assessment, including the potential for an oil leak. The authority has said it plans to take legal action over the fire.

On Sunday, Attorney General Dappula de Livera directed officials to prepare cost and environmental damage assessments.

With its engines shut down, the tanker drifted to within 20 nautical miles (37 kilometres) of Sri Lanka’s eastern coast on Friday before a tugboat towed it farther out to sea.

Meanwhile, 10 British and Dutch professionals, including rescue operation specialists, disaster evaluators and legal consultants, reached the scene and were waiting to board the tanker to begin the mission of salvaging the ship. The experts were sent by New Shipping Ltd, the commercial owner of the New Diamond in Athens, Greece, the navy said.

The fire began in an engine room boiler but did not spread to the tanker’s oil storage area and no leak has been reported, the navy said. Sri Lankan officials said they feared massive environmental damage if the ship leaks or explodes.

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

It was transporting crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip, where the state-owned Indian Oil Corp has a refinery.