Toxic-laden ship stopped in Gujarat:

A Korean-built obsolete ship laden with toxic material sneaked into Gujarat and was headed for the Alang shipbreaking yard near Bhavnagar for dismantling but it was stopped in its tracks and impounded by the Gujarat Maritime Board on Thursday.

The board officials believe it could be the same vessel about which the environmentalists had alerted the Indian government. While the seized ship, a 14,584-tonne, bulk carrier purchased by Alang’s Tagif Ship Breaking Company, is named ‘Gulf Safawa’, the one which the green brigade referred to is called ‘Gulf Jash’.

A Gujarat Pollution Control Board official told Khaleej Times that its officials and Customs officers would examine the entire ship followed by an inspection by Delhi bosses, adding that ‘Gulf Safawa’ contained toxic materials and poisonous residues.

The Gujarat Maritime Board had earlier alerted officials at its ports following reports quoting a global group of activists—Shipbreaking Platform—that a toxic material-laden ship, ‘Probo Koala’, built in 1989 and now renamed ‘Gulf Jash’, was coming to Gujarat.

Reports said the ship contained several tonnes of hazardous substances such as asbestos, PCBs, toxic paints, fuel and chemical residues, etc, which had not been cleaned up. Union Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, had sought a report from the Gujarat government after the reports, but the government earlier said that no such ship was coming to Alang as per its information. 

Source: Khaleej Times Online. By Mahesh Trivedi 4 June 2011

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/June/international_June134.xml&section=international&col=