Mangaluru: The Coast Guard is using six vessels and two aircraft in its effort to check marine pollution in case of an oil spill from the submerged foreign vessel, MV Princess Miral.

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) continued to monitor the situation around the grounded merchant ship MV Princess Miral on Saturday too.

A fully equipped Pollution Control Vessel, ICGS Samudra Pavak from Porbandar, arrived on Saturday June 25 morning off New Mangalore and joined the pollution response operation at sea along with ICG ships and aircraft.

Two vessels from local resource agencies are also being used, he said. The damaged and submerged vessel is reported to be carrying 220 tonnes of fuel on board.

The Coast Guard is coordinating with the state administration, pollution control board, New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) to prevent any threat of largescale oil spill from the sunken vessel.

Only a minor sheen of oil assessed to be from engine bilges and dirty water tanks has been observed so far.

The entire area is being continuously monitored for any marine pollution eventuality.

The foreign flagged merchant vessel ran aground off Ullal near Mangaluru on June 21 and was on the verge of sinking completely. All the 15 Syrian crew on board were rescued by the Coast Guard.