Mumbai: Even as the Supreme Court (SC) is yet to consider a plea asking for marching orders to the highly toxic Platinum-II passenger ship from Bhavnagar, another contaminated vessel, Margaret Hill (pictured), is on its way to India, according to Daily News & Analysis.
The 36-year-old liquefied natural gas carrier with a 87,600 cubic metre capacity was once a candidate for a floating LNG project. But it has been sold to Dubai-based Agro Systems and is heading towards the ship-breaking yard in Alang, Gujarat.
The UK's Environment Agency (EA) had recently detained the ship due to its toxic make up.
The ship was released after its former owners gave assurances that it was going to be taken to Dubai for a conversion job.?Toxics Watch Alliance (TWA) activist Gopal Krishna has dashed a letter to Dr Dalip Singh, who heads the inter-ministerial committee on ship-breaking and the Union steel ministry, seeking immediate action to stop the ship's entry.
Under the existing laws, ships containing hazardous material can only be dismantled at properly authorised dismantling facilities in either the EU or an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country, Krishna says.
The ship is currently lying off the Dubai coast, says Krishna, and there have been calls from the UK to get UAE authorities to detain the vessel. [25/02/10]
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