BBC News 24 Aug 12;
Armed forces in Sri Lanka are preparing to clean beaches in case an oil slick from a sunken cargo ship contaminates its western coast, officials said.
The Cypriot-flagged Thermopylae Sierra sank on Thursday in bad weather, releasing an oil slick about 10km (six miles) long.
Some of the oil has already washed up at the resort town of Negombo and is threatening local fisheries.
The vessel had been moored off the west coast for three years over a cargo row.
The Disaster Management Centre said a long stretch of the west coast centred on the capital was at risk.
This includes Mount Lavinia, a popular tourist resort south of the capital, Colombo, and Negombo, the first beach resort opened for tourism in the early 1970s.
Rusting ship
"Much of the furnace oil in the ship had been pumped out, but we were told about 70 tonnes of fuel remained in its tanks and that is causing a slick," the centre's director, Sarath Kumara, told the AFP news agency.
He added that the slick was about 20km off the western coast but could get washed ashore if the heavy monsoon weather intensifies.
"We have arranged small units of volunteers to clean up a coastal stretch of over 50km," Mr Kumara said. "We have not experienced anything like this before."
A thin strip of oil about 200m (655ft) long has already hit Negombo's shoreline, the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo reports.
The rusting vessel was impounded on Sri Lankan court orders after a dispute over its cargo of steel piping.
A recent court order prevented the ship from being towed to the east coast.
'Manageable' oil slick reaches Sri Lanka capital
(AFP) Google News 25 Aug 12;
COLOMBO — An oil slick from a rusting cargo vessel that sank in bad weather reached the coast of Sri Lanka's capital on Saturday and threatened a beach resort popular with foreign tourists, officials said.
Coast conservation officials insisted that the spill -- about 10 kilometres (six miles) long -- was "manageable" and could easily be cleaned up, and there were no immediate signs of it affecting wildlife or fish.
However, a thin layer of oil was seen off the coast of Negombo, navy sources said. One of the first tourist resorts that developed in the early 1970s, Negombo is popular with foreign holiday makers.
"We can see a thin layer of oil off the coast, but it has not reached the coast yet," said the navy official in the resort, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the capital Colombo.
Earlier in the day, a patch of oil reached the coast of Wellawatte, an area of Colombo popular with local swimmers, the coast conservation department said.
"The spill is manageable and the leak from the sunken ship had stopped from last night," Coast Conservation Department chief Anil Premarathne told AFP. "About 10 or 15 people would be enough for this clean-up."
However, the national Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said it had mobilised 500 volunteers, including soldiers and police, in case of serious damage to the coastline.
The rusting 15,000-tonne Thmothrmopolyseara, a Cyprus-flagged carrier, went down late Thursday after remaining anchored outside a Colombo harbour since 2009 following a dispute over its cargo of steel, local officials said.
DMC director Sarath Kumara said much of the 600 tonnes of oil from the ship had been pumped out before it sank.
The vessel had been detained by Sri Lankan courts following litigation over the cargo of steel, valued at over $300 million, according to local media reports. It was not clear who owned the vessel.
Sri Lanka's merchant shipping authority director Ajith Seneviratne said they had been ready to tow the ship away to a salvage yard in the island's east but were prevented by a court order.
Sri Lanka says oil spill 'contained'
(AFP) Google News 26 Aug 12;
COLOMBO — An oil slick from a sunken cargo vessel has been contained and is no longer a threat to beach resorts popular with foreign tourists, Sri Lankan authorities declared on Sunday.
The rusting ship went down in bad weather on Thursday night outside a Colombo harbour and had threatened a 50-kilometre (30-mile) stretch of coastline including resorts at Mount Lavinia and Negombo.
The spill -- which was about 10 kilometres (six miles) long -- had reached the shores of the capital Colombo.
"We have contained the remaining oil slick and chemicals are being used to get rid of it," Coast Conservation Department chief Anil Premarathne told AFP, cautioning: "We would remain vigilant for a few days more."
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said volunteers, including security personnel, had cleaned up thin layers of furnace oil which washed ashore in several places on Saturday in and around the capital.
"The environmental damage is much less than what was initially feared," DMC director Sarath Kumara told AFP. "The worst is over and the leaks from the sunken ship have stopped."
Foreign holiday makers were seen in the sea at Mount Lavinia and Negombo, just outside the capital, on Sunday. Neither resort had been affected.
The 15,000-tonne Thmothrmopolyseara, a Cyprus-flagged carrier, had been outside the Colombo harbour since 2009 following a dispute over its cargo of steel, local officials said.
The vessel had been detained by Sri Lankan courts following litigation over the cargo valued at over $300 million, according to local media reports.
