Govt demands Rs 9,531 as compensation, huge amount, says shipping company 

KOCHI: MSC Elsa-3 Shipping Company has said that it cannot pay the amount of compensation demanded by the state government in connection with the ship accident. The company has informed this in the court. The state government had demanded Rs 9,531 crore.

The company lawyer said this is a very huge amount. With this, the court has also asked how much money can be deposited as compensation. The consideration of the plea has been postponed to August 6.

The state government had demanded Rs 9,531 crore as compensation considering the huge loss caused by this accident in the environmental and economic sectors. Justice Abdul Hakkim, who considered the Admiralty suit filed by the government the other day, had stayed the removal of the ship Akiteta-2 of the same company, anchored in Vizhinjam.

The order said the ship be released after a decision is made on the compensation. The government had also demanded that interim relief be granted along with six percent interest until the plea is disposed of. The government has sought interim relief considering that the final decision in the compensation case may be delayed.

Various efforts were made by the state and central government departments to prevent the sinking of the ship, but failed. The ship, which capsized 38 nautical miles off the coast of Kochi, completely sank in the Arabian Sea and the containers left on the ship fell into the sea. The Coast Guard, a ship with special systems for this purpose, had taken various measures to prevent the fuel from mixing with the sea. Measures were taken such as blocking the floating pipe like a net and mixing a special chemical with the water to prevent the flow of fuel. Mixing fuel in the sea can destroy the habitat of marine life in that particular area.

The floating containers washed up on the shores of Alappuzha, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram, causing concern among the people of the coastal areas and disrupting their livelihood through fishing for weeks. The environmental damage caused by the plastic particles washed up on the shores from the containers is not small.