The environmental cost of back-to-back shipwrecks on Kerala shores

For the past three weeks, large stretches of the beaches in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala have been glistening after tonnes and tonnes of plastic nur-dles, or pellets, which are extremely hard to remove, washed up on the shores.

- Vishnu Varma

Barely two to three millime-tres in size and white in colour, the nurdles, foundational material in the manufacture of a wide variety of plastic products, are among the environmental after effects of the sinking of the Liberia-flagged cargo vessel MSC ELSA 3 around 14 nautical miles away from Kerala's coast on May 25. While all the 24 foreign crew onboard were rescued by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard, the vessel along with all the cargo have sunk into the Arabian Sea.

According to officials, of the 643 containers loaded on the vessel, 65-70 were filled with plastic nurdles and 13 with calcium carbide which when mixed with seawater produces flammable acetylene gas. Many of those containers have likely dispersed into the sea while some are still located in the cargo hold of the vessel. While the ship has sunk completely, over 60 containers, mostly empty, have floated to the shore so far.

While Kerala was grappling with the consequences of the MSC ELSA 3 incident, 15 days later, the MV Wan Hai 503 cargo vessel sailing under the flag of Singapore reported large explosions and fire around 44 nautical miles off the coast of Azheekal in Kannur district. The Navy and the Coast Guard responded to the fire and helped rescue 18 of the 22 crew onboard with the remaining four missing to this day. Over the next two weeks, the fire on the ship was largely contained, although shipping officials have confirmed that most of the cargo was destroyed in the fire, with several containers even falling into the sea. The Wan Hai incident particularly sent alarm bells ringing within Kerala as the manifest of the ship pointed to the presence of several classes of dangerous goods in 143 of the 1754 containers onboard.

The two back-to-back episodes, say officials and experts, have laid bare the chinks in maritime safety in the country and the state’s vulnerabilities in responding effectively to the environmental damage.

The direct environmental cost