Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the state government to release all available information concerning the hazardous cargo and oil spill from a Liberian container ship that sank off the coast of Alappuzha on May 24.
The government informed the high court that the containers that fell from the cargo vessel MSC Elsa-3 contained harmful substances such as calcium carbide, as well as harmless materials such as cotton for making clothes.
The Left Democratic Front government was supposed to reveal the contents before the court following a PIL filed by Congress leader T.N. Prathapan.
The government told the court that the vessel carried polymer substances in 60 containers, coconuts and cashew nuts in four containers, cotton in 39 containers, wood in 87 containers, 84.44mt of diesel and 367.1mt of furnace oil.
The court has ordered the state government to submit a detailed report on the contents of all 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous cargo and 13 containing calcium carbide, at the next hearing in two weeks’ time.
Maritime experts claimed that the vessel capsized because of improper container loading. The high court said that the information must be made public.
“The people have every right to know the consequences of the shipwreck, especially when it has been reported that hazardous materials were on board,” said the court.
The Kerala government declared the shipwreck a state-specific disaster and allegedly did not take steps to remove the contents of the containers that washed ashore across several districts over the past week.
The government has drawn flak from various quarters, including the fishing community, for not removing the contents from the sea. Fishermen in Kollam had alleged that their fishing boats were damaged as the submerged containers hit their vessels. The locals expressed their anguish over the possibility of environmental damage. Several recovered containers were reportedly found empty or completely damaged along coastal areas in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha districts.
