The 2017 Ennore oil spill was an oil spill that occurred outside the Kamarajar Port in

Ennore Ennore, also spelt , is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India. Ennore is situated on a peninsula and is bounded by the Korttalaiyar River, Ennore Creek and the Bay of Bengal. The creek separates south Ennore from the north Ennore which covers majo ...

near

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The spill occurred on 28 January 2017 when an outbound empty tanker ''BW Maple'' collided with an inbound loaded oil tanker ''Dawn Kanchipuram'' at 04:00 local time. It was unexpected.

Location

The collision occurred two nautical miles off Kamarajar Port in

, a natural harbour about 20 km north of

on the

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...

. The

Ennore Creek Ennore Creek is a backwater located in Ennore, Chennai along the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. It is located in the zone comprising lagoons with salt marshes and backwaters, submerged under water during high tide and forming an arm ...

(swampy backwater traversing over 13 km between

Pulicat Lake Pulicat Lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, (after Chilika Lake), measuring . Major part of the lagoon comes under Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. The lagoon is one of the three important wetlands to attract northe ...

in the north and

Kosasthalaiyar River Kosasthalaiyar River, also known as Kortalaiyar, is one of the three rivers that flow in the Chennai metropolitan area. The river and its course Kosasthalaiyar is long and originates near Pallipattu in Thiruvallur district and drains into th ...

in the south and emptying into the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

) separates the town of Ennore from the Government held public company Kamarajar Port.

Timeline

The two ships collided at 4 am on 27 January 2017. In the morning, the Kamarajar port authority released a press statement that there is no damage to the environment and no casualty or injury to persons. It also indicated that both vessels are safely anchored and the extents of damage to the vessels are under assessment. By afternoon, oil spill sheen was visible with dead turtles being washed ashore and residents of nearby coastal areas reporting a strong smell of oil. The

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The Indian Coast Guard was formally es ...

confirmed they were assessing the situation and providing assistance required. The Coast Guard also said that the spill would be contained in less than 24 hours. Investigation into the cause of the collision began on 29 January 2017. On 30 January 2017, the Kamarajar Port released a note claiming that there is no major damage to the environment or injury to persons and some sheens of oil traces were observed. It also stated that oil booms was deployed as a precautionary measure around the vessel Dawn Kanchipuram to contain seepage if any. The ship was subsequently brought into the port and berthed it after its cargo was discharged and vehicle inspections for damage assessment did not yield any evidence of an oil spill barring 'some sheens of oil traces', the press note said. The fishing community claimed that hundreds of fish had died and that they were unable to go for fishing because the spillage had come up to the shore.

Containment and cleanup

On 31 January 2017, the

District collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...

Thiruvallur Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai ( Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western p ...

confirmed in a press meet that an oil spill took place after the incident on 28 January with

Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is the governing body to monitor and control air, noise, and water pollution in the state of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area an ...

and the Fisheries Department being deployed to look into the situation. Manual efforts to remove the oil spill were made by the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

, in addition to helicopter sorties to monitor the spread and assist in its removal. Three heavy buckets were used for removing the oil spill by

Chennai Corporation The Greater Chennai Corporation, formerly known as the Corporation of Madras (1688-1996) and Corporation of Chennai (1996-2016), is the civic body that governs the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inaugurated on 29 September ...

. On 5 February, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam visited the site and declared that 90% of the clean up work was over with the remainder expected to be completed in a couple of days. He claimed tests had shown that the spill had not affected marine life, with fish safe for consumption, and also promised livelihood relief to the local fishing community. On 6 February, it was revealed that the viscous heavy oil being cleaned was heavy bunker fuel caused by a rupture in the fuel tanks of the oil tanker ''Dawn Kanchipuram'' and not from its cargo. As on 7 February, the efforts to manage the oil spill had yielded approximately 160

metric tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

of sludge, removed by over 5700 people. In February 2017, the

said that approximately an area of was affected. He stated that 95 per cent of the spill was towards north of the

Chennai Port Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest container port of India, behind Mumbai's Nhava Sheva. The port is the largest one in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third-oldest port among the 13 major ports of India with offic ...

with sludge accumulating over a length of spread across 11 spots. He added that the shores of the city's Marina Beach suffered minimum impact and that the shoreline of the suburb

Tiruvallur Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai (Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western p ...

had oil accumulation over a stretch. The volume of the spill was estimated at .

Criticism

The Government of Tamil Nadu was criticized for its failures in

crisis communication Crisis communication is a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. Crisis communication is aimed at raising awarenes ...

and contingency response.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ennore oil spill 2017 disasters in India 2017 in the environment 2017 industrial disasters Environment of Tamil Nadu 2010s in Tamil Nadu January 2017 events in India Oil spills in India Disasters in Tamil Nadu