A dark fear has come true with the confirmation of an oil spill from the sunken Liberian-flagged cargo vessel off Kerala’s coast. The ship, carrying 643 containers, was heading towards Kochi from the newly commissioned Vizhinjam port when it started listing around 15 nautical miles off the coast on Saturday afternoon; it sank by Sunday evening. While 73 of the containers were empty, 13 of the rest were classified as containing hazardous materials and 12 contained calcium carbide. Besides, the ship had 84.44 tonnes of diesel and 367.1 tonnes of furnace oil for its own consumption. People have been rightly warned to stay away from the loose containers and flotsam that have started washing ashore along the southern Kerala coast. While the true implications of the accident are yet to be ascertained, the fear of an enormous ecological and economic impact is not unfounded.
The oil spill can pollute the marine ecosystem and cause long-lasting damage to water, land and life. If the spill reaches the coast, both the land and the people will bear the brunt. An expanding spill, especially during the monsoon, could affect marine productivity substantially, especially because this is the season for the breeding of pelagic fish. The calcium carbide in the sunken containers compounds the danger. The chemical, which is used to ripen fruits, releases highly flammable acetylene gas when exposed to water. The heat generated in the event of a large-scale reaction could kill most of the marine life in the vicinity.
A two-pronged strategy is needed to address the emergency. The first is to swiftly contain the spill and minimise the damage. The second is to investigate and pin responsibility for the accident. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft have been doing what they can to contain the oil spread, and a specialised pollution-response vessel has arrived from Mumbai to join the operation. The possibility of retrieving the sunken containers should also be looked at. On the investigation front, there is no clarity yet on the cause. Several questions need answers. Was the ship overloaded? Was it sea-worthy? Was there any flaw in the stacking of containers? Was there any human error? With Vizhinjam port becoming operational, the shipping routes off Kerala are bound to get busier. The country simply cannot afford another accident like this.