Panaji, Oct 30 (IANS): A multi-agency operation to pump out naphtha from a tanker which was stranded last week off the Panaji coast, got a setback on Wednesday after a hydraulic pump, specially flown in from Mumbai by the Indian Navy, fell into the sea while it was being ferried to the site.

"That (hydraulic pump) accident would delay the process of emptying the tanks of the stranded tanker Nu Shi Nalini by a couple of days," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said.

Sawant also gave a clean chit to Goa Urban Development Minister Milind Naik, who has been accused by the Congress party of bringing the tanker, whose engine was damaged in an accident in Kochi earlier this year, to Goa's Mormugao Port Trust in order to broker a deal with a buyer in the coastal state.

"The process of emptying the vessel will be delayed by a couple of days because of what has happened," Sawant told reporters here.

The multi-agency operation, involving the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Director General Shipping, the Mormugao Port Trust and other state agencies, to transfer the naphtha and nearly 50 tons of oil and 19 tons of diesel to other vessels is already delayed by several days on account of stormy conditions.

The tanker ran aground last Saturday (October 26) on the rocky shelf and has not moved position since. According to officials involved in the joint operation, no oil spill has been reported in the vicinity of the vessel yet, even as the Indian Coast Guard has stationed one oil spill response vessel onsite in case of emergency.

Nu Shi Nalini was anchored five nautical miles off Goa's coast last Thursday (October 24) when weather experts had forecast stormy conditions off the coastline, on the instructions of the Mormugao Port Trust, which runs Goa's only major port.

The Goa government has already filed an FIR and the police are investigating the aspect of criminal negligence which could have led to the accident. The Congress has, however, blamed Goa cabinet Minister Milind Naik, accusing him of summoning the damaged vessel to Goa.

"Since the ship was handicapped and contained naphtha cargo, Naik tried to strike a deal on behalf of a local firm to buy the naphtha in a distress sale. He is the one responsible for getting the vessel here, which is now an ecological risk," state Congress president Girish Chodankar has alleged.

The Chief Minister however gave a clean chit to Naik, saying that his minister had nothing to do with the incident and that the cargo has been eventually purchased by a firm in the UAE.

Sawant also said that two barges of 200 and 400 ton capacity have been requisitioned in order to transport the naphtha cargo to another tanker which is enroute from the UAE.

"The barge will go into deep sea and transfer naphtha to the tanker which is coming from UAE. After the naphtha is emptied, the ship will be repaired," Sawant said.