No flames or smoke observed from MT New Diamond today – SLN
September 09, 2020- Sri Lanka Navy to get on-board the ship
Neither flames nor smoke observed this morning (Sep 9) on-board MT New Diamond following efforts taken to douse the fire, the Navy said.
Navy Spokesman Capt. Indika De Silva told defence.lk Navy Commander Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne has directed a special firefighting and disaster management team to board the distressed vessel to assess the present condition of the oil container.
He said since a slight fuel oil patch was observed close to the vessel yesterday (8), an Indian Dornier Aircraft was deployed to airdrop diesel dispersant to minimize the environmental hazards.
Crude oil storage of MT New Diamond are still safe and there is no any vulnerability of oil leaking into the sea until now, he confirmed.
De Silva said National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency owned Aquatic Research Ship is also conducting further investigations into the impact.
According to the Navy, heated vessel is being towed further away from the land towards safe seas by a tug and the distance to the recently reckoned position was about 37 nautical miles.
Air Force Spokesman Group Capt. Dushan Wijesinghe told 4500 kilos of dry chemical powder sacks were dropped into the flames during past three days using Bell 212 and MI 17 Helicopters.
Over 440,000 litres of water was poured into the fire using ‘Bambi Bucket’ operations, he said.
Further Group Capt. Wijesinghe said the Bambi Bucket was operated for 176 times with 2,500 litres of water during the attempts to douse the fire.
Under the directives of the Air Force Commander Air Marshal Sumangala Dias, three Air Force Squadrons have been deployed for the joint operation.
