Phosphine found on MSC Chitra

The Director General (Shipping) on Wednesday said representatives of the Rotterdam-based salvage firm Smit found traces of phosphine,an inflammable gas,after it successfully boarded MSC Chitra on Tuesday. This indicated the possibility of containers carrying aluminium phosphide having fallen in the hold of the ship.

The statement issued by Director General (Shipping) said there is,however,no indication of any phosphine in the air around the ship. Also,300 canisters containing aluminium phosphide and diachlorophost have been found and collected from the Alibaug region and deposited with Alibaug police station. There were reports that several other canisters were sighted along the coast of INS Kunjali.

Meanwhile,the Indian Navy on Wednesday escorted 12 vessels out of Mumbai Port Trust and 5 vessels from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust,while 14 vessels for MbPT and 8 vessels for JNPT were piloted in. This brings total vessels piloted out since the collision to 80 and cumulated vessels brought in to 93.

As many as 293 containers have fallen overboard so far — 10 of these have been found sunk and marked,77 containers are reported beached,14 containers were retrieved by floating cranes and 18 containers have been transported ashore at JNPT. No fresh container has been sighted in the channel.