Captain of oil tanker that caught fire barred from leaving Sri Lanka

A Sri Lankan court on Monday barred captain of Greek-owned oil tanker that caught fire off Sri Lanka's eastern coast from leaving country.

magistrate's court here, however, declined to issue a remand order on Steiros Illias, captain of Panama-registered tanker MT New Diamond that went up in flames on September 3 while carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil from Kuwait to India.

deputy solicitor general h requested a remand order as captain was needed to file an indictment in high court.

court barred him from leaving country as he was needed for furr proceedings.

captain appeared in court after attorney general directed police to record his statement.

He was to be charged for committing offences under Marine Pollution Environmental Protection Act.

next hearing in case is on October 12.

On Saturday, owner of ship, Greece-based Porto Emporios Shipping Inc., agreed to pay USD 2.3 million to Sri Lanka for costs incurred on dousing fire onboard tanker.

deputy solicitor general told magistrate that oil h leaked from tanker polluting sea. At least two nautical miles h been affected by oil seep.

New Diamond, a vessel under charter by Indian Oil Corporation, was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Mina Al Ahmi port in Kuwait to Indian port of Parip when a boiler explosion in its engine room caused a fire off coast of Sangamankanda in Ampara district.

fire killed one Filipi crew member and injured ar, while 21 or crew members escaped uninjured.

Sri Lanka Navy with help of Indian counterparts and coast guard doused fire after a much effort.

ship is currently in seas 70 nautical miles east of Batticaloa in east and 129 kilometres away from Batticaloa coast. 

(Im credits: Indian Coast Gaurd/Twitter)

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