Rogue ship dumps oil, coating Goa beach
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
September 1, 2010 (AP) — An unknown ship has dumped tons of waste oil into the sea off western India, creating tar balls that were heaping on Goa’s famed beaches on Wednesday, officials said. Indian navy and coast guard vessels were trying to trace the ship that is believed to have dumped burnt oil about three days ago, said Aleixo Sequeira, the state’s environment minister. “If we are able to find the vessel, then action would be immediately initiated,” Sequeira said.
He declined to say what action would be taken. Wave after wave of tar balls have been floating ashore at Goa beaches for two days, layering the beaches 15cm deep with semisolid oil lumps. Popular beaches such as Colva, Candolim and Calangute were badly hit. On Wednesday, scores of civic workers used brooms to collect and clear the oily debris, but still more tar balls were washing ashore, said Swapnil Naik, Goa’s top tourism official. …
Rogue ship dumps oil, coating Goa beach
Panaji, India (AFP) Aug 31, 2010 – A clean-up operation was under way in Goa on Tuesday after some beaches in the Indian resort state were found covered in a thick layer of oil. Teams have been sent to beaches the length of the former Portuguese colony following the discovery on Monday, officials said. They include representatives from the local pollution control board and tourism authorities. State tourism department director Swapnil Naik said it was unclear when the operation would be finished and said thick tar balls were being washed up on the shoreline. There was no immediate indication of where the oil had come from but Gaurish Dhond, president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, said the incident happened every year. “We cannot avoid such things,” he told reporters, without elaborating. …
