Kolkata: The state government in collaboration with Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) has been able to prevent the oil spill from the vessel MV SSL Kolkata that had emerged as a threat to the ecosystem of the Sunderbans after it caught fire in the Bay of Bengal on the night of June 13.
"More than 90 percent of the oil in the ship has been successfully extracted and the remaining work will be completed within 10 days' time," a relieved senior official of the state Forest department who has been supervising the entire operation said.
Apart from being a threat to the ecology and the river and sea creatures, if the oil had actually spilt over, it could have mingled with the water and travelled to human habitat areas of Gosaba and others.
"So extracting oil out of the ill-fated vessel was our top priority," the official added. There was 400 tonne of furnace oil loaded in the affected ship.
A drill was made in the oil tanks of the affected ship and after extraction, oil was transferred through a pipeline to another vessel that was stationed at a safe distance from the affected ship.
It may be mentioned that the state Forest department has provided all sorts of logistics to the Singapore-based company that was roped in by KoPT for extracting oil from the affected ship.
The District Magistrate of South 24-Parganas has been acting as the nodal officer for the entire operation and the district administration had also mobilised people from the adjoining villages who helped employees from the shipping company in emptying the oil barrels.
State Chief Secretary Malay De organised meetings time to time with the concerned agencies like KoPT Indian Coast Guard, Indian Airforce and top officials of the Forest department to keep a stock of the progress.
Initially, all the stakeholders had laid emphasis on transfer of oil with the threat of spilling looming large. Hence, the efforts to tow the ship to the bank was overlooked.
"Now, the ship had sunk so deep into the sea soil that it cannot be moved from the spot. So the remains of the ship will gradually sink into the water. This will result in water pollution but the effect will be much less than the oil spill," a senior official in the district administration said.