By an OGJ Correspondent
KARACHI, Aug. 25 - Pakistan has lodged a formal complaint with the International Maritime Organization, claiming damages from the owner of a Malta-based tanker after a massive oil spill from its broken hull polluted a large coastal belt near the port of Karachi (OGJ Online, Aug. 14, 2003) reported Iftikhar Arshad, general manager of the Karachi Port Trust.
The complaint calls for an initial payment of $200,000, he said, adding that the authorities would submit the final claim after a full assessment of the losses.
The MV Tasman Spirit, owned by Assimina Maritime Ltd. of Malta, began breaking up and split in two near Karachi two weeks after running aground July 27. The ship has leaked 12,000 tonnes of crude.
The ship's owners were expected to arrive in Pakistan last week to negotiate with the port authorities, Arshad said Tuesday.
The authorities had so far managed to salvage one sixth of the oil still in the tanker, and efforts were continuing to contain a massive oil spill. "We have so far recovered about 6,000 tonnes of oil," Arshad said earlier.
Meanwhile, while holding the Karachi Port Trust and the Pakistan National Shipping Corp. responsible for the environmental damage in Karachi, a legislator of the Pakistan People Party Parliamentary, the party of former Prime Minster Benezer Bhutto, Aug. 18 invoked the jurisdiction of the local court for a 10 billion- rupee decree against the two defendants, citing injury to the health and welfare of Karachi residents and damages to marine life and the environment.