Bhubaneswar: Puri district administration has initiated talks with the owner of Tug JIN HWA 32, a Malaysian cargo vessel that ran aground off Odisha’s Chilika lake on August 9, regarding removal of fuel from the ship.

Informing about this, Odisha Commerce & Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera said the talks were held two days ago over the possible ways of removal of oil from the cargo ship.

Earlier, the Coast Guard had raised concern over possible spillage of oil from the vessel. It had apprised the Odisha Government about the threat to the eco-sensitive coastal zone off Chilika lake and Odisha coast due to the possible leakage from the cargo ship which contains 30,000 litres of diesel, 1000 litres of lube oil and 200 litres of hydraulic oil.

Notably, the Malaysian cargo ship, which was heading towards Visakhapatnam, had drifted towards the Odisha coast due to a storm in the Bay of Bengal. The ship has been anchored near Rajhans island close to Chilika lake under Krushnaprasad police limits in Puri district, since then.