Jaideep Shenoy/the Hindu

Mangalore, Nov 11: The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has stepped into ensure safe removal of furnace oil from the capsized Eritrean ship M V Den Den off Tannirbhavi coast here. The actual process is likely to begin early next week.

Ramesh Kumar, environmental officer, KSPCB, told The Hindu here on Saturday that the board would ensure safe disposal of the oil as well. It would monitor the quality of sea water off the coast during the actual removal of the oil by the salvage team to ensure that there was no pollution due to spillage. “Once the oil is removed, shifted to storage tanks and taken to New Mangalore Port, we will monitor that the owners sell the oil to authorised recycling contractors,” he said.

The aim was to ensure that the furnace oil did not end up in the wrong hands, Kumar said. The onus would be on the owner of the ship to ensure safe disposal of oil removed from the ship, and they could sell it only to such contractors who were authorised by the board to trade in such products, he added. The port authorities and the salvage team would monitor the actual removal of oil from Den Den, he said.

Meanwhile, the international salvage team that arrived here has carried out survey work on the capsized vessel has finished the basic ground work in the run up to removing the furnace oil on board the vessel.

K V Vaswani, Deputy Conservator, NMPT, said Al-Hamal, an offshore supply vessel (a tug), which the salvage team would be using in the operation, was expected to arrive at the port within 24 hours. The salvage team had plugged all air pipes in the vessel to prevent oil leak. It carried out sounding operation (to probe the depth) to determine safest path for the tug to approach the sunken vessel, he said.

In case, the tug could not come alongside the ship for lack of depth, it would remain in anchorage a short distance away. The salvage team had carried out tests using divers to determine the best place from where it could safely remove the oil using the “hot-tap” method. The oil would be shifted to storage tanks on board the tug and then taken to the port. The owners of the ship would then decide on the next course of action, he said.

Observing that the salvage team was not in a hurry to remove the oil given that it had to adhere to safety norms laid down by the KSPCB, Capt. Vaswani said the port authorities had sought a plan of action from the salvage team. “The team will go ahead with the actual process of removing the furnace oil once the plan is approved. The entire process may take four to five days,” Captain Vaswani added.