Colombo-Sana
An oil tanker caught fire today off the east coast of Sri Lanka.
Reuters quoted Commander Rangith Rajapaksa of the Sri Lankan navy as saying today that an oil tanker chartered by Indian Oil Corp. IOC, off the eastern coast of the country, caught fire, and that the authorities had hired a plane and two ships belonging to the Navy to help in the rescue efforts.
The supertanker, New Diamond, which was fully loaded, set sail from Al-Ahmadi port in Kuwait heading to the Indian port of Paradeep, where the government company runs a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery.
Local media quoted the Sri Lankan Maritime Protection Authority as saying that the authorities would take steps to prevent any possible oil spillage from the tanker carrying 270,000 tons of crude oil.
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