Fire on board oil tanker brought under control with India’s help: Lankan Navy

TIL Desk/World/Colombo/ The fire on board an oil tanker off Sri Lanka’s coast has been brought under control with India’s help and it was towed to the deep sea away from land, the Navy said on Saturday.

The ship was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India. The Sri Lankan Navy on Friday confirmed that a Filipino sailor died in the boiler explosion in the engine room of the Panama registered tanker MT New Diamond that caught fire on Thursday.

Indian ships were supporting the Lankan Navy to douse the flames on the tanker off the coast of Sangamankanda in the eastern district of Ampara.

“The fire on board MT New Diamond has been successfully contained to a greater extent and it lies about 35 nautical miles at 5:30 am. As a result of the combined operation, the ill-fated oil tanker has been secured from all sides.” the Lankan Navy said.