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A Greek cargo ship is in trouble after it caused an oil spill in Sri Lankan waters last year. The vessel in question, the New Diamond, was on its way to India from Kuwait.
The Sri Lankan high court ordered the Greek captain of MT New Diamond vessel, which carried crude oil to India from Kuwait and caught fire off the country’s eastern Ampara coast, to pay a fine of $64,972 after he pleaded guilty to a marine environment pollution charge on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka on Thursday indicted the Greek captain of an oil tanker, which carried crude oil to Paradip port in India from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait and caught fire in the eastern seas of Sri Lanka, for causing an oil spill.
Three Indian Coast Guard ships are escorting damaged crude tanker MT New Diamond, as it is being towed off from the Sri Lankan Coast to the Fujairah Port in the United Arab Emirates.
MEPA Chairperson Darshani Lahandapura confirmed that permission was not given to tow-away the crude oil tanker, MT New Diamond.
The stricken crude oil tanker, MT New Diamond, which caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka, is being towed to Vadinar, Gujarat where the crude oil will be pumped out at the offshore oil terminal of the Kandla Port Trust.
MT New Diamond was damaged by two fires over a week in early September. The owner has agreed to pay $1.8 million to SriLanka for its help in extinguishing the fire, said an official on Thursday.
Indian ministers assessed the condition of Motor Tanker (MT) New Diamond and scrutinised ways to expedite arrangements for the discharge of cargo crude from the vessel.
Sri Lankan authority and Indian Coast guard are continuously performing boundary cooling in response to the fire, which had re-ignited on September 7, rising up to 60 meters high from the main weather deck of the ship.