VASCO: The Indian Coast Guard is awaiting a status report on the cruise liner Qing from the Mormugao Port Trust to begin operation of removing oil from the vessel.
A source at the Indian Coast Guard disclosed that the MPT has not yet submitted the status report on the cruise liner Qing.
“We are expecting that the MPT would give the status report on the cruise liner as early as possible in order to start with the operation of pumping out 350 tonne of oil which is presently in the vessel,” said the source.
The Indian Coast Guard, however, has ruled out the possibility of oil spillage from the cruise liner as the vessel is presently stable at the Western Indian Shipyard Ltd jetty.
“We don’t think there is a possibility of oil spillage from the cruise liner,” said the source, adding pumping out the oil from the vessel is the way to prevent threat to the marine life and environment.
It may be recalled that the Indian Coast Guard had taken up booming operation in co-ordination with MPT some couple of days back in order to reduce the impact of the oily layers which were found floating on the water surface.
The cruise liner was tilted on its side due to the ingression of water, triggering a threat of oil spillage from the vessel.