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Fire on supertanker off Sri Lanka extinguished

06 Σεπτεμβρίου 2020.

newshippingpl31A fire on a supertanker abandoned off Sri Lanka’s east coast has been extinguished, a Sri Lankan navy spokesman said. “The fire on the oil tanker has been doused. However we are continuing to spray water in case it reignites,” Captain Indika De Silva told Reuters.

The New Diamond is carrying about 2 million barrels of crude oil, although a senior Sri Lankan navy official said on Friday there was no real risk of a spill.

The fire broke out in the engine room on Thursday morning and spread to the bridge of the ship.

MT New Diamond is a very large crude carrier. On 3 September 2020, the ship caught fire off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, resulting in the death of a Filipino crew member.

The ship was built as Ikomasan by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding in Chiba, Japan.Its keel was laid on 14 December 1999, it was launched on 10 August 2000, and was delivered on 29 November 2000.

In 2013, it was renamed Diamond Warrior, and again to New Diamond the following year. New Diamond has a gross tonnage of 160,079 GT and a deadweight tonnage of 299,986 DWT.It measures 330 metres (1,080 ft) long, with a beam of 60 metres (200 ft), and is powered by a single diesel engine that gives it a speed of 15.5 knots (28.7 km/h). Current owner is the Greek company Porto Emporios Shipping Inc.

On 3 September 2020, a fire broke out in the engine room of New Diamond at around 07:45 local time (SLST), when the ship was about 65 kilometres (40 mi) east of Sri Lanka in the Sangaman Kanda Point. At the time, the ship was carrying 270,000 tonnes of oil from Kuwait to the Paradip refinery in India, with 18 Filipino and five Greek crewmembers on board. The cargo was loaded on 23 August 2020 at Mina al Ahmadi and was due to arrive at Paradip on 5 September.The ship was chartered for the voyage by the Indian Oil Corporation.

Reuters reported that the fire was triggered by an explosion and was initially brought under control before spreading upwards to the ship's bridge.The Sri Lankan Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) said it believed that the ship's cargo tanks were intact following the fire, but that a slight oil slick had been sighted, perhaps from the fuel oil on board.MEPA said that early on 4 September two explosions were reported from New Diamond, though the Sri Lankan Army said that there was no danger of an oil leak at the time.

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In the meantime, the government of the Maldives had expressed worry, with a presidential minister saying that the country needed to take all precautions to prevent oil from reaching its shores.

19 sailors were rescued by the commercial vessel Helen M, two by the Sri Lanka Navy ship Sayura, and one by the Navy ship Ranarisi, which landed a rescue party aboard New Diamond. A Filipino crew member died in the fire. 22 crew members were rescued and one person who sustained burn injuries was admitted to the Kalmunai Hospital. A total of four Sri Lankan ships responded to the incident, as well as a B200 Beechcraft surveillance aircraft of the Sri Lanka Air Force.Ιnternational responders included an Indian Coast Guard ship and three Indian Navy vessels, and two Russian Navy ships that were in Sri Lanka for scheduled exercises at the time.In addition, a MI-17 helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force is also deployed for Bambi Bucket Operations.At the moment, SLNS Sindurala, SLNS Sayura & Shanghai 3 class FAC SLNS Ranarisi of the Sri Lanka Navy have been deployed.

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