By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: US-based marine service firm Resolve Marine Group has won the bid to remove oil from a Mongolian vessel that sank off Paradip harbour in Orissa last month.
“The Florida-based company, which has branches in Singapore, has been assigned to pump the oil out of the sunken ship,” a release from the Paradip Port said Friday.
The vessel MV Black Rose, carrying about 25,000 tonnes of iron ore fines and 975 tonnes of furnace oil, capsized in Bay of Bengal, five km off the Paradip coast Sep 9.
Port authorities said they floated the global tender to remove the furnace oil after the owners of the ship failed to respond.
“We have initiated legal action against the owners of the ship,” the port said.
Port officials said Resolve Marine would start work in 10 days.
The Paradip port has also requested the New Delhi-based energy think tank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to send oil eating microbes for cleaning the spilled oil.
Various wildlife groups have raised concerns about the possible environmental damage the oil leakage could cause.
The site where the ship has gone down is very close to the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, one of the few remaining nesting sites in the world for the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. The turtles come to the site every year around this time for breeding.
If the oil spills, it could pollute the marine environment. It could also pose a threat to turtles, a wildlife body has warned.