Barge sinks, Mukka beach may see oil spill

There are growing fears of an oil spill from a barge that had sunk after running aground off Surathkal affecting the Mukka beach, the venue for several festivals.

The barge, modified as an excavator to dig a trench in the seabed to lay an effluent discharge pipeline for the upcoming petroleum industries of the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) Limited, ran aground in shallow waters on Tuesday morning. It listed to starboard, and sank by evening.

Efforts to salvage the barge have not yielded any results.  According to the engineers of the New Mangalore Port, powerful tugs cannot be deployed in the area as they too might also run into problems in the shallow waters. 

MSEZ officials said the barge sank even as they were planning to salvage it after ensuring specialised services from the port.

Marine vessel engineers who visited the scene on Tuesday expressed fear that the barge might crack due to the tidal pressure and sand movement, increasing the threat of oil leakage.

Several prominent institutions, including the National Institute of Technology-Karnataka, were located along the Mukka beach, now under threat from the possible oil spill.

The fishermen of the area have been opposed to laying of the pipeline for the petroleum project, which they claimed, would hinder fishing, particularly the movement of naadadoni (country craft).

“We have been opposing the pipeline as it obstructs the movement of boats. The coastal bed dynamics too get altered due to which shoals of fish move away from the coast to deeper waters. Since the country craft fishermen cast their net along the coastal line, they find not catch within the range of their operations (500 to 1200 meters from the beach),” Shobendra Sasihitlu, president of the Dakshina Kannada Mogaveera Yuva Vedike, said.
He added that about 700 families would lose their livelihood if the pipeline project was completed.