Sri Lanka on Thursday indicted the Greek captain of an oil tanker, which carried crude oil from Kuwait to India and caught fire off the country's eastern Ampara coast, for causing an oil spill. The Panamanian-registered New Diamond was carrying 270,000 metric tons of crude oil from Kuwait to India when a boiler explosion in its engine room caused fire on September 3.
The Sri Lanka Navy with the help from the Indian Navy and coast guards doused the fire after three days. Two Sri Lankan naval ships, one Indian naval ship and 3 Indian coast guard vessels were deployed in the operations. The spokesperson for the Attorney General Dappula de Livera said captain Sterio Illias has been indicted under section 26 and 38 of Sri Lanka's Marine Pollution Prevention Act.
Livera filed charges against Ilias in the Colombo High Court under two counts that carry a maximum penalty of Rs 20 million (USD 108,000). The captain was made to appear before the court on September 28 for negligence and not putting in place safety measures to prevent fire on board.
He was barred from leaving the country, although no remand order was served on him in spite of a state request to the court. A date for a hearing is yet to be announced.
The tanker had 23 crew members – 18 Filipinos and five Greeks. Twenty-two of the 23 member crew had been safely rescued off the tanker.
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