Coast guard conducts oil spill response exercise off Kochi

The exercise, titled 'CLEAN SEA-4', was witnessed by Director General of Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral M P Muralidharan and other top naval officers along with officials with from ONGC, BPCL, State Maritime Boards, Cochin Port Trust, and Pollution Control Boards.

Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Samudra Prahari, the country's first pollution control vessel, along with several Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessels (AOPVs), two Fast Attack Crafts (FACs), 3 Chetak helicopters, 2 Dornier aircraft among others participated in the exercise.

A robust national system for oil spill response is critical for a major economy like India, as 75 per cent of India's oil imports are through the sea, the Vice Admiral told reporters on board the vessel.

Exercises like Clean Sea- 4 validates and reinforces response mechanisms and enables the Indian Coast Guard to fine tune the actions required in such eventualities by improving coordination and communication with different agencies, he added.

The Vice Admiral said that the Indian Coast Guard will have 150 ships of varying sizes 100 aircraft by 2018. Currently, it has 72 ships and 50 aircraft. About 100 vessels are being built in various shipyards in the country.