Port authorities in Chennai, India, have impounded a BW LPG vessel and a local ship carrying heavy fuel oil and detained their crews after their collision last week caused an oil spill affecting marine life and local fishing, a spokesman for the port said on Feb. 3.

About 20 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaked, and a complete cleanup is expected to take eight to 10 days, according to an Indian coast guard spokesman.

BW Maple, with a total capacity of 82,000 cubic meters of LPG, was half-full when it collided near Chennai with the Indian ship Dawn Kanchipuram on Jan. 28.

The port spokesman said the sludge--a mixture of oil, water and sand--has travelled more than 18 miles, polluting the Marina Beach, one of the world's longest.

Reuters Television footage showed black layers of oil floating near the shoreline, with buckets being used by volunteers and coast guard officials to clean up the sludge.

No one at Darya Shipmanagement Pvt Ltd., owner of the Indian vessel, or the Oslo-listed company BW LPG were immediately available for comment.

Offshore