Indian Coast Guard assists Sri Lankan Navy in firefighting efforts on oil tanker

CHENNAI: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Friday rescued 22 of the 23 crew members since the ICG fire fighting ships assisted the Sri Lankan Navy to douse the fire onboard oil tanker 'MT New Diamond' off the east coast of Sri Lanka.

The search is underway for one missing crew member, according to the ICG's official tweet on Friday.

"Concerted joint Search and Rescue (SAR) operation and fire fighting efforts by ICG Ships, Sri Lankan navy and tugs resulted in rescue of 22 out of 23 crew safely. Search for one missing crew (Filipino) in progress," ICG said on its official Twitter handle.


The ICG went on to confirm that there was no oil spill reported in area and that two emergency towing vessels were being being deployed by the Government of India for MT New Diamond.

The joint rescue mission was conducted early on Friday morning after the Sri Lankan Navy sought assistance to douse the fire following an explosion onboard the oil tanker 37 nautical miles east off Sri Lanka coast.

The vessel was travelling from Kuwait to India when the explosion occurred and a fire broke out in the engine room.

The ICG mobilised three vessels - Shaurya, Sarang and Samudra ‘paheredar’ to assist in fighting the fire onboard the Panama flagged oil tanker.

Besides the Coast Guard vessels, a Dornier aircraft too had also been deployed for the operation.