UPDATE 4-Sri Lanka navy says no real risk of spill on stricken supertanker

(Adds detail on fire, location, pars 1-8)
By Arjuna Ranawana and Waruna Karunatilake
COLOMBO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - There is no real risk of a spill
from a fully loaded supertanker that caught fire off the east
coast of Sri Lanka, a senior official in the Indian Ocean
nation's navy said on Friday.
The fire that broke out in the engine room of the New
Diamond on Thursday morning had spread to the bridge of the
ship, carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, though it has not
reached the cargo area, the Sri Lankan navy said.
Director-General of Operations Rear-Admiral Y N Jayarathna
told reporters it was the navy's view that there was no real
danger of a spill, because the fire on the ship has been
contained in the rear section of the vessel.
"The live flames have now died down and there is only white
smoke emanating from the vessel," he told a televised press
conference.
A navy spokesman, Captain Indika de Silva, said there were
23 crew on board, one of whom is presumed dead. The rest have
been taken off the ship by the Sri Lankan navy, with one injured
crew member flown to the capital Colombo for treatment.
Three tug boats, five Sri Lankan navy ships as well as two
craft from the Russian navy and three from the Indian navy have
been assisting in an operation to fight the fire and tow the
ship away from the coast, after it began drifting towards land.
At present the vessel is being held by the salvage team in
deep sea 35 kms (21.7 miles) east of the Sri Lankan town of
Pottuvil, de Silva said.

Initially, the ship was stranded 38 kms (24 miles) east of
the town of Thirukovil, but drifted within 25 kms of the coast
after being abandoned. Authorities were now towing it eastward,
away from the coast, de Silva said.
Thirukovil is a town in Sri Lanka's Ampara district that was
badly battered by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Arugam Bay, a
world-renowned surfing spot, is nearby.
"The missing Filipino sailor is presumed dead. He was badly
injured when a boiler exploded," de Silva told Reuters, citing
crew who were rescued.
"There were five Greek and 18 Philippine nationals among the
crew. One of them was injured and he was airlifted out of the
ship and the rest were accounted for."
Sri Lanka's meteorology department had already modelled the
impact of 70,000 tonnes of crude oil - a quarter of the ship's
cargo - spilling into the ocean.
The simulation, a worst case scenario according to
authorities, found that such a spill would not immediately
threaten the country's east coast.
But Dharshani Lahandapura, chair of Sri Lanka's federal
Marine Environment Protection Authority, told Reuters that any
spill from the ship would be catastrophic for marine life.
"It will be a huge environmental and economic disaster if
this happens," she said.
The 1989 oil spill from the Exxon Valdez, considered one of
the worst human-caused environmental disasters, spewed about
37,000 tonnes of crude into waters off Alaska. The 20-year old New Diamond, chartered by Indian Oil Corp
(IOC) IOC.NS , had sailed from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in
Kuwait, loaded with Kuwait Export Crude, Refinitiv Eikon
tracking data showed. It was heading for the Indian port of
Paradip, where state-run IOC has a 300,000 barrel-per-day
refinery.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ablaze & adrift: Sri Lanka began towing the supertanker New
Diamond to safety after it drifted towards land https://tmsnrt.rs/3jKfSnt
FACTBOX-Major oil spills with ships ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>