A ship involved in an accident off the coast of Mumbai has stopped leaking fuel oil but the floating containers and slick continued to threaten the coastal environment, dpa reported.
The Panama-registered cargo ship MSC Chitra sprung a leak after colliding with another vessel off Mumbai harbour Saturday.
Oil leaked from two of the ship's 12 fuel tanks which held about 879 tons, PTI news agency quoted coast guard Inspector General SPS Basra as saying.
At least 200 of the containers the ship was carrying, some filled with hazardous chemicals, fell off the ship which tilted 70 degrees and were floating in the area.
"The leakage of oil from the ship has stopped on its own," Basra said. Coast guard ships and aircraft were spraying the seas with anti-pollutants.
Operations at Mumbai's two ports remained affected with the main channel closed to larger ships.
The government of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, has warned against fishing or eating fish until the oil slick is brought under control.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and other institutions along the coast have been asked not to use Arabian Sea water as it might contain oil, corrosive and toxic substances.
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) had set up several teams to survey the coastline, IANS news agency reported.
BNHS scientist Deepak Apte said that oil slicks were found at various locations and teams of scientists were collecting samples and would start analysing them by Wednesday.
The Maharashtra government had asked BNHS Sunday to conduct the survey to help it take steps to mitigate any threat.
India's Directorate General of Shipping is conducting a probe into the collision.
"There is a vessel traffic monitoring system which tracks the ships. There seems to have been a miscommunication between the control and captain of ships because of a problem of frequency," Suresh Shetty, Maharashtra's environment minister, said.
The accident took place about 9 kilometres off Mumbai.