Fresh fires on oil tanker off Sri Lanka under control

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Fresh fires that erupted on a large oil tanker drifting off Sri Lanka are under control again, the navy said Wednesday.

A new blaze broke out Monday on the MT New Diamond, carrying nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil, and reached the magnitude of last week's fire, only a day after it was extinguished. Officials have warned of massive environmental damage to Sri Lanka’s coast if the ship leaks or explodes.

“The fire has now been brought under control and the ship is being towed by a tug boat to deep sea,” said navy spokesman Indika de Silva.

The tanker is about 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) off the coast and the plan is to position it is at 40 nautical miles to facilitate salvaging work, Silva said.

The tanker 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.

High winds, extreme temperatures on the ship and sparks reignited the fresh fires, the navy said, adding that so far there is no risk of a crude oil leak or of the fire spreading into the oil storage area.

The navy said the initial fire began in an engine room boiler but did not spread to where the oil is kept.

On Tuesday, navy said “a diesel patch” had been spotted in the ocean about 1 kilometre (0.6 mile) from the ship. The patch is likely to be diesel fuel from the ship, it said. The ship has about 1,700 tons of fuel to power its engines.

An Indian coast guard aircraft sprayed a chemical on the patch to minimize damage.

The initial fire killed one Filipino crew member and injured another, but 21 other crew members escaped uninjured.

Twenty were taken to the southern port city of Galle on Tuesday, while the captain remained on a ship near the tanker to help firefighting efforts.