Colombo (AFP)
A Panamanian-flagged tanker was still in flames off Sri Lanka for the second day in a row on Friday, heightening fears of a large-scale oil spill in the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lankan army and Indian Coast Guard buildings continued to attempt to extinguish the blaze with fire hoses.
At the same time, a Sri Lankan helicopter carried out water drops on the stern of the ship.
The "New Diamond", which carries 270,000 tonnes of crude oil and 1,700 tonnes of diesel, issued a distress call Thursday after an explosion in its engine room.
The Sri Lankan navy said the flames did not spread to the ship's oil and diesel cargo.
"Preliminary information from the crew confirmed that a Filipino sailor died yesterday in a boiler explosion," the navy said in a statement.
The 330-meter-long VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) tanker carried 23 crew members, including 18 Filipinos and five Greeks.
All were evacuated Thursday, except for the dead sailor.
The third officer of the tanker, also Filipino, was badly burned and hospitalized in Kalmunai, 360 kilometers east of Colombo.
His condition is stable, according to the spokesman for the navy.
Neighboring India dispatched Coast Guard and Navy ships.
The tanker was about sixty kilometers east of the Sri Lankan coast when it issued its distress signal.
He drifted ten kilometers at night towards the coast.
The Sri Lankan navy again felt that there was no immediate danger to the coasts, but expressed concern over the risk of an oil spill.
Departing from Kuwait, bound for the Indian port of Paradip, the "New Diamond" is about thirty meters longer than the Japanese bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground at the end of July on a reef in the south-east of Mauritius. , dumping at least 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil into the sea before breaking in two, three weeks later.
© 2020 AFP