A team of ten British and Netherlands experts, including salvage operation experts, assessors and a legal adviser arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday (6) under the facilitation of the company that works as the commercial and technical operator of MT New Diamond to study the situation onboard the ill-fated crude oil tanker, Sri Lanka Navy said.
Six salvage operation experts of the team were transferred by Sri Lanka Navy craft to the location where the tanker is situated.
“Apart from that, the commercial and technical operator of the distressed vessel also sent another team of 11 disaster management experts from the Netherlands, the Britain and Belgium to Sri Lanka this morning (7). They will also be transferred to the location of the distressed vessel for an inspection by the Navy today,” Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson Captain Indika de Silva said.
The fire-stricken ship is now lying 30 nautical miles (56 km) off Sangamankanda Point and salvage operations are currently underway. Accordingly, 09 ships including Indian and Sri Lankan ships, 05 tugs, aircraft of Sri Lanka Air Force and 01 aircraft belonging to the Indian Coast Guard are augmenting the disaster mitigation efforts further.
Even if the fire on the ship has been brought under control, the Sri Lanka Navy and other stakeholders will continue the disaster management operation until the risk of the ship catching fire again is completely eliminated.
Vessels and craft dispatched for disaster management efforts continue to engage in boundary cooling on the fire engulfed oil tanker due to possible reignition of the fire.
