July 29, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424

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KARACHI, July 28: The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) has sought help from a foreign shipping company to send its oil tanker to lighterage MT TASMAN SPIRIT oil tanker, which ran aground at Keamari on Sunday.

A KPT spokesman said here on Monday evening said that the stranded oil tanker could be refloated only after its lighterage and a ship is coming from Al-Fujearah for the purpose which is expected to reach here within next two days.

The oil tanker carrying 67,000 tons of crude oil for Pakistan Refinery drifted from its normal course in Keamari channel of KPT due to high tides, accompanied with high winds, he said.

He said the KPT, however, along with the Pakistan Navy and Port Qasim was making efforts to refloat the ship.

He said the harbour channel was open and all the port operations were going on smoothly.

The KPT spokesman asserted that a “minor” oil leakage was spotted on Sunday night, but no fresh leakage had been observed and there was no threat to marine life.

Meanwhile, shipping sources said that two tankers of the vessel have been ruptured and oil spill had spread over to Clifton beach, which would leave a serious impact on the beaches and marine life.

They said that the vessel had gone down by two more metres since yesterday and the KPT operation to refloat it had ended in a failure.

The sources also feared that the incoming and outgoing vessels might collide with the stuck up ship in the middle of the channel.—APP