Da Nang-based armed forces, in collaboration with other relevant local agencies, has held a drill to respond to oil spills at sea. The large -scale practice took place on Saturday at the Tho Quang fishing port in Son Tra District attracting the 150 participants. 

The ship of the Da Nang Border Guard Command approached the injured ship and gave first aid to the injured

According to the drill scenario, an asphalt tanker, with a length of 98m and a width of 15m, was docked at the wharf to load goods into Tho Quang Asphalt Warehouse when the left side of the ship collided with the wharf, tearing the hull and perforating the fuel storage compartment. The ship was tilted and there was a danger of sinking the ship.

At the time of the incident, there were 18 crew members on board and about 40m3 of DO oil left. Although the crew members on the ship closed all the bulkheads in the containment compartment to isolate the oil spill generation site for 4 minutes, there was still about 20m3 of oil spilled into the sea and moved northwest to Da Nang Bay. There was a risk of fire or explosion in the incident area. Three crew members were injured.

The ship of the Da Nang Border Guard Command approached the injured ship and gave first aid, bringing 3 seriously injured people to the 2nd Squadron wharf for emergency treatment.

Along with that, there were 10 more units with a total of more than 150 people with many means and equipment participating in incident response, including collecting the entire amount of spilled oil to ensure the correct technique and transporting it to the right place for treatment; ensure the prevention of potentially fire and explosion situations in oil spill response activities and safety and security work at sea and ashore during the incident response process.

This above-mentioned exercise was an opportunity to improve the capacity of directing, operating and coordinating in performing the tasks of the forces participating in incident response, and improve Da Nang’s capacity to respond to oil spills as a whole.

Under the drill’s scenario, the Tho Quang special-use port was a place to receive a lot of asphalt. It would be very harmful to the marine environment if oil product spilled into the sea without timely response, treatment and collection.

The forces and many vehicles and equipment participate in the prevention of potentially fire and explosion situations in oil spill response activities.

Staff of the Centre for Environmental Engineering and Chemical Safety (CENTEC) released blotting paper to collect spilled oil

Reporting by HOANG HIEP - Translating by A.THU