KERALA: A ship carrying 640 containers, including 13 containers filled with highly dangerous chemicals, sank off the coast of Kerala in southern India in the Arabian Sea.
The Indian Navy, in a statement, said that all 24 crew members have been rescued safely after the incident.
The environmental experts said that it has exposed the real face of India’s environmental hostility, risking aquatic life and public safety.
The Indian government has acted as a mere spectator on what experts termed as “criminal negligence” after the toxic chemicals started polluting the beaches of the Indian state of Kerala. The ship also had 84 tons of diesel and 367 tons of furnace oil, along with the dangerous chemicals.
The Indian Navy, too, has shown no active response, further highlighting what critics call professional incompetence and grave carelessness.
The lives of both the people of Kerala and aquatic life were at stake due to the leakage of toxic materials into the sea. Reports of chemical pollution are already surfacing along Kerala’s beaches, threatening both human health and aquatic biodiversity.
