Two containerships collide in the Hooghly south of Calcutta

THE 1,095-TEU Green Valley, collided with the 917-TEU Tiger Spring, at the confluence of Hooghly and Rupnarayan rivers at Nurpur 50 kilometres south of Kolkata (Calcutta), reported the Indian Express newspaper.

The Bahamas-flagged Green Valley was detained by the police for further investigation after it collided with the Gibraltar-flagged Tiger Spring.


"The river channel became narrow after its western bank became silted and ship movement was restricted to the eastern flank. The accident took place because of miscommunication between the pilots of the two ships," said Mukul Roy, minister of state for shipping.


"The Colombo-bound Tiger Spring - after unloading containers at Kolkata Dock System (KDS) of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) was going back through Rangaphala channel, while the Green Valley coming from Singapore to KDS, hit it in the middle at Nurpur," said director of marine department of the port trust Arun Kumar Bagchi.


The Tiger Spring was badly damaged and showed signs of sinking, while the damage to the Green Valley was not extensive and it was brought to Diamond Harbour dock for repairs.


A five-member committee has been established to investigate to complement police inquiries.


This follows a similar collision of the 2,314-TEU MSC Chitra and a 33,113-ton bulk carrier Khalijia 3 on August 7 in the Mumbai ship channel on the other side of the subcontinent. The Chitra ran aground and has been discharging containers, but halted operations this week as toxic gas was coming up from boxes in flooded holds, endangering salvagers.