Environmental, safety concerns raised over oil spill at Gujarat shipbreaking yard

New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) NGO Shipbreaking Platform has raised some serious environmental and safety concerns about an oil spill which is said to have happened at Priya Blue's shipbreaking yard in Gujarat's Alang-Sosiya. The platform is a global coalition of organisations tackling the environmental impacts and human rights abuses associated with current shipbreaking practices. In a statement released last week, the platform alleged that it obtained footage showing workers sent to clean up the oil spill without protective clothing or equipment, standing barefoot in oil. "Satellite imagery from 14 June shows the oil having spread far beyond Priya Blue's plot, clearly indicating that it was impossible to contain the spill within the yard area due to the tidal flows that characterise the beaching method," said the platform. The spill, according to the platform, occurred on June 13 after an "extremely high tide wave" destabilised the LNG vessel SOHAR, which had been beached at their plot only a few days earlier. Beaching is the process of deliberately running an obsolete or decommissioned vessel aground. The vessel then supposedly crashed into the floating crane barge stationed at the yard, reportedly causing damage to the SOHAR's forward fuel tank and releasing large amounts of heavy fuel oil into the sea, according to the statement. The platform has also highlighted that the incident investigation and environmental response report published by Priya Blue on June 26 appears to downplay the scale and spread of pollution, while independent documentation shows contamination far beyond the immediate area of the yard. "Oil was reported washing ashore along a large stretch of the coastline, including fishing village Mithi Virdi, around 10 kilometres from Priya Blue, directly contradicting any suggestion that the spill remained contained close to the facility," it added. NGO Shipbreaking Platform has urged Gujarat Maritime Board and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board to conduct a transparent investigation, publish sampling results and disclose the volume of oil released and the full extent of contamination. It also urged the International Maritime Organization to "recognise the inherent risks and structural flaws of beaching and ban the beaching method under the Hong Kong Convention." PTI ALC ALC AMJ AMJ