Tests on soil samples of spill affected beaches reveal high contamination

The Maharashtra government says that the civic body is engaged in cleaning up operations in Colaba and INS Kunjali in Navy Nagar following the oil spill off the Mumbai coast.

Meanwhile, the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) comprising international marine pollution experts, which cleaned up Elephanta Caves will carry out the final clean up at the sites.

Over the past few days, tar balls along with fresh oil traces have been spotted at Colaba coast and according to state environment secretary Valsa Nair Singh, oil could have reached the coast while stabilising the MSC Chitra a few days ago. He added that the ship had oil in its tanks and sea water got into it and then flowed out. (See: Ship crash: Jairam Ramesh visits oil spill site)

According to scientists, the tar balls would not leave any impact on the beach. SN Gajbhiye, scientist in charge, regional centre, National Institute of Oceanography, Mumbai said a tar ball was only a hardened residue of the degraded oil and was therefore more of a nuisance for the public and could be harmful to very small organisms in water.

Yesterday, activist Sumaira Abudlali of AWAZ Foundation in a communication to chief minister Ashok Chavan wrote there was every possibility of oil entering the food chain which would have long-lasting effects.

''On behalf of citizens of Mumbai, we request you to share results of any tests conducted by the Food and Drug Administration on fish to test for levels of mercury, cadmium or other heavy metals, '' the letter read. According to experts tar balls being washed up to the shores was a routine phenomenon resulting from increased oil container traffic in the Arabian Sea.