Tokyo: A tanker carrying crude oil from the Middle East to Japan spilled oil in the eastern Indian Ocean, tanker owner Mitsui O S K Lines Ltd said on Tuesday.
The crude oil leaked on Monday afternoon about 470 km (290 miles) offshore west of Great Nicobar Island when oil tanks of the tanker, Bright Artemis, were damaged.
The leak may have reached about 4,500 tonnes, Mitsui OSK said in a statement.
Bright Artemis, a single hull very large crude carrier (VLCC), was transporting about 250,000 tonnes of crude oil from the Mina al Fahal port in Oman and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia.
The tanker crew was rescuing staff from a cargo vessel that had caught fire when the vessel touched the tanker, damaging its crude tanks. Mitsui O.S.K. said leak had been contained and there was no risk of further spills.
It did not say when clean-up work would start. Bright Artemis was continuing eastward, carrying the remaining crude, a Mitsui OSK spokesman said, adding that he did not know if it planned to stop at a port.
The buyer of the crude oil was Cosmo Oil Co, Japan's fourth-largest oil refiner, and the tanker had been scheduled to deliver it to Chiba, eastern Japan.
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