Karachi faces environmental hazards

Karachi faces environmental hazards: Ship breaks up, pollutes coast


KARACHI, Aug 15: Residents of coastal areas were exposed to a host of environmental hazards on Thursday after the PNSC-chartered 24-year-old oil tanker Tasman Spirit broke up on Thursday.

Shipping authorities and salvage workers at a press conference on Thursday evening declared that the vessel, which ran aground about 20 days back, had broken up after developing cracks, adding that efforts were under way to secure its two parts at the site.

Unable to quantify the amount of crude oil spilled so far from the Japanese-made oil tanker, senior officials, including Federal Minister for Communications Ahmad Ali, claimed there was no significant threat to human or marine life. Necessary arrangements had been made to avert major pollution, they stressed.

According to the salvage personnel and media men who have had the opportunity to watch the grounded ship from a distance of about 100 metres, the ill-fated vessel had almost submerged at about 350 metres from the KPT's groyne yard.

"About two-thirds of the ship, including 11.9 metres draft, is now invisible as water is flowing over it," said a motorboat owner, adding that the only visible part was its bridge where one could still read the words, "Protect Our Environment". Protecting the environment is now surely a daunting task before the maritime and environment experts.

An official involved in the damage-control operation said: "An uncalled-for mishap has taken place and now the only job left with is to pump out the remaining oil from the oil tanker, while the ship-breakers would do the rest in the months to come."

According to some shipping industry sources, the oil tanker was built at Ominichy Dockyard, Japan, in 1979 using high tensile steel, a strong metal of generally lesser thickness. The ship, owned by Plumbrass Company, carried 27 crew members of Singaporean, Chinese and Greek origin and was skippered by a Greek national.

Both citizens and shipping industry people have criticized the KPT's handling of the disaster. They questioned the port authorities decision to allow an aging vessel to enter the port.