The Indian
Coast Guard on Saturday confirmed that there was no oil slick reported as
efforts to douse fire that broke out on board a massive oil tanker continued
for the third day.

Taking to
Twitter, the Indian Coast Guard also said that the distressed tanker had been
pulled 35 nautical miles (approximately 65 kms) away from Sri Lankan coast.

Also Read: Indian Coast Guard step-up efforts to douse fire aboard India Oil tanker off Sri Lanka

“#ICG &
Sri Lankan ships and aircraft alongwith tug ALP Winger after consolidated
efforts successfully towed  
#MTNewDiamond more than 35 NM away from #SriLanka coast to safe waters.
#FireFighting continues and fire now reduced. No oil slick reported.”

A fire
broke out aboard the Indian Oil-chartered tanker, the MT New Diamond, off the
coast of Sri Lanka on Thursday.

On Friday, the
Sri Lankan Navy confirmed that one of the ship’s 23 crew members died in a
boiler explosion in the engine room of the Panama-registered tanker.

The ship was
manned by a crew of 18 Philippines and 5 Greek nationals. The Sri Lankan Navy
had earlier confirmed that the remaining 22 members of the crew had been rescued.

Meanwhile, Rear
Admiral Nandana Jayaratne, the Director General, Operations, of Sri Lankan
Navy, dismissed the possibility of an oil spill due to the fire.

“The Indian
Coast Guard had observed a crack right under the superstructure of the ship,
but that does not mean the ship is falling apart and there will be an oil
spill,” Jayaratne said.

“We will
definitely need international support in the event of a spill,” Jayaratne said.

Any spill
from the fully loaded tanker, which was carrying approximately 2 million
barrels of oil from Kuwait, could result in one of the biggest ecological disasters
in the world, chairperson of the Marine Environmental Protection Authority
(MEPA) Darshani Lahandapura warned.

She said that
criminal action would be taken against the owner of the vessel for
environmental damage in case of an oil spill.

The Indian
Coast Guard had dispatched two ships and aircraft on Friday to aid the ongoing efforts,
in addition to the three ships and the solitary aircraft it sent earlier.