Probo Koala: Banned by Bangladesh, ship with toxic cargo heads for Gujarat

The Gujarat Maritime Board has alerted the Alang shipbreaking yard in Gujarat about the possible landing of a ship carrying highly toxic waste.

The controversial ship Probo Koala has been denied entry in Bangaldesh recently and was in the thick of controversy in Europe and Africa.

The owners have changed the name of the ship from Probo Koala to Gulf Jash in a bid to disguise its toxic waste cargo. The ship was used to manufacture low grade naptha using caustic soda, the manufacture of which is banned on land and the ship was used as a manufacturing unit.

Probo Koala

The ship had sought entry in Bangladesh recently but was denied entry after its toxic load was discovered. The ship is now owned by an Indian American Anil Sharma. Sharma's brother Komalkant Sharma owns a shipbreaking unit in Alang.

The ship has been in the thick of controversy in Africa and Europe. It tried to offload on-board toxic material in Amsterdam. When authorities imposed heavy charges for disposal, the company decided to send the ship to Africa.

After trying its luck in Nigeria, the company finally found a dealer in Ivory Coast to dump the chemicals. Hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals were poured into Abidjan leaving 16 people dead and thousands severely ill. The ship-owners paid Ivory Coast 200 million dollar to avoid legal action.

Source: India Today. 1 June 2001

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