The MT New Diamond was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India

New Delhi:

Another fire has broken out on the fully loaded supertanker that was ablaze just a few days ago off the coast of the Sri Lanka, the Indian Navy said today. Efforts have been intensified to bring the fire under control.

Fire fighting equipment and additional assets and personnel are enroute to bring the blaze under control.

The MT New Diamond, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) chartered by the Indian Oil Corporation, was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India’s Paradip and had caught fire on Thursday. With the help of the Indian Navy, Sri Lanka had successfully put out the fire last week and towed the ship away from land.

It was being escorted by INS Sahyadri, the Navy had said.

The oil tanker had 23 crew members – 18 Filipinos and five Greeks. Twenty-two of the 23 member crew had been safely rescued off the tanker — a Filipino sailor died in the boiler explosion in the engine room.

A spill from the ship could cause an “environmental disaster”, warned Ashok Sharma, managing director of shipbroker BRS Baxi in Singapore, news agency Reuters had reported last week.

The fires come a little more than a month after a state of “environmental emergency” triggered by the spill of about 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil from a Japanese bulk carrier, MV Wakashio, when it ran aground on a reef in Mauritius.