Mumbai, Aug 19 (IANS): Timely action by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard prevented several tonnes of oil from spilling from a grounded ship off the Lakshadweep Islands and posing a hazard to their fragile environment, officials said here Thursday.

MV Nand Aparajita, anchored off the Kavaratti coast, drifted and grounded during stormy weather last Sunday evening (Aug 15). The vessel drifted towards the shore and tilted, with some water seepage into the ship's engine room.

The ship crew could not prevent the grounding due to an engine failure and Coast Guard vessel Kavaratti was alerted. The grounded vessel's crew also informed that the ship had around 24 kilolitres (24 tonnes) of high speed diesel fuel on board.

The local police and Coast Guard managed to rescue the 15 member crew Monday afternoon before operations were launched to minimise the threat of a possible oil spill.

Officials of the local administration, the navy and the Coast Guard chalked out a plan to de-fuel the ship immediately as it could also hit the functioning of the de-salination plant which provide drinking water to the entire population of Kavaratti island.

Accordingly, a decision was taken to transfer the fuel from the grounded vessel to the shore with the help of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

The de-fuelling operation started Wednesday evening and was completed early Thursday by transferring 18.5 tonnes of fuel from the grounded ship to shore.

The 18-year old general cargo carrier is owned by Essar Logistics Ltd.

The successful operation came barely 12 days after a collision between two ships near Mumbai barbour (Aug 7) resulted in hundreds of tonnes of oil spilt in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai and the Konkan coast, besides other pollutants.