Probe Finds Guily Party in Mumbai Spill, Toxic Containers Still Not Recovered

It’s been a month since the MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia collided off of Mumbai’s coast, spilling hundreds of containers into the seaway. Today several cargo containers are still missing. Salvage crew and divers refuse to recover the remaining containers saying they contain very toxic pesticides and they do not want to touch them.

MSC Chitra collided with MV Khalijia on August 7, throwing more than 300 cargo containers from MSC Chitra into the sea out of which 36 contained hazardous pesticides and chemicals.

In mid-August Mumbai Port Authoritiy sent notices to the MSC Chitra’s owners, the Mediterranean Shipping Company, asking them to pay full the full clean-up costs associated with the accident.

The MSC Chitra was carrying the hazardous cargo that spilt into the ocean and it was her tanks that caused the 800 tons of oil to spill and her containers in the seaway that shut down both Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

A probe into the incident has found the MV Khalijia to be mainly responsible for the collision. The Marine Mercantile Department found 37 deficiencies in Khalijia including maneuvering faults. Khalijia is being criticized for not being more cautious when reentering the channel and for entering the channel at an acute angle triggering the collision.

In addition the report says that Khalijia tried communicating with MSC Chitra but kepy calling MSC instead of MSC Chitra, and there was another MSC vessel in the area.

The report also criticized Mumbai Port trust's Vehicle Traffic Monitoring System (VTMS) for its radar, which was not operating on that day and had no imformation of the movement of the ships.