Cochin Port Trust issues notice to owners of 'M V Maria'

Kochi, July 2 (UNI) The Cochin Port Trust (CPT) today issued notice to Shega International Transport, Albania, the owners of the cargo ship 'M V Maria', which sank off the Kochi coast on June 30, asking them to take action within 15 days to remove the wreckage.

Deputy Chairman of CPT, Capt. Subhash Kumar, said the port authorities also filed a complaint with the Harbour Police, stating that the wreckage was obstructing the port area.

It said some payments were due from the owners of the ship to the CPT and the captain and other crew members should not be allowed to leave till the issue was settled.

In the notice to Shega International, the CPT said if the company did not inform the port authorities within 15 days of the action being taken by it to remove the wreckage, the port management would initiate action to get it removed.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard personnel this afternoon did another aerial survey of the area where the ship sank, some eight-and-a-half km from Kochi, and found that there was no oil spill from the wreckage. ''We did a reconnaisance in the afternoon and found that there was no oil spill,'' Coast Guard officials said.

The ship is believed to have been carrying 40 tonnes of gas oil and two tonnes of lube oil.

It was sailing from China to Albania with a consignment of steel billets and trucks when it sank off Kochi on Saturday evening after developing a leakage in its hull.

Fifteen crew members were rescued by a Cochin Port Trust (CPT) tug and brought ashore.

UNI