KARACHI, Aug 31: Salvagers are set to concentrate now on restoring pre-slick conditions along the city’s devastated beaches as the first phase of the anti-slick operation — lighterage of the broken foreign oil tanker Tasman Spirit — is almost over.

They are likely to embark upon the gigantic task in a couple of days though lack of coordination among all the government agencies and private organizations, as well as Edhi Foundation and NGOs, has been hampering whatever efforts made so far to protect marine life, coastal habitat and populated areas from the effects of the oil slick.

Foreign experts and salvagers, in association with their local counterparts, have already chalked out strategy to combat the slick in a planned and organized manner.

Sources privy to the salvage operation said that another 500 tons of Iranian crude oil was transferred from the broken oil tanker to the conveyer ships on Sunday. As such, the total quantity of oil retrieved from the damaged tanker came to about 37,300 tons.

It is learnt that a ship called from Fujerah port, Sea Angel, could not be placed alongside the Tasman Spirit in the last two days and in its place the Gawadar was redeployed on Sunday along with commercial barges to transfer the remaining oil from the oil tanker.

The Greek-registered tanker ran aground on July 27 but the lighterage operation could be initiated only in the first week of August and that, too, was interrupted as the ship had developed cracks and finally split into two.

Throughout the salvage operation, the tanker continued to pour crude oil into the sea. Thousands of tons of oil hit the nearby beaches, though a negligible quantity evaporated and an unspecified quantity was disintegrated at places it had accumulated.

According to the data pertaining to the spillage and lighterage, about 30,000 tons of oil had spilled into the sea, a maritime source pointed out. Attempts are being made to deploy the 6,500-ton capacity vessel, the Sea Angel again on Monday. However, it is unlikely that any significant quantity of oil could be siphoned out of the broken tanker.

Another source claimed that what was extracted from Tasman Spirit on Sunday was a mix of water and oil, which indicated that the containers of the ship had become almost empty.

Now the salvagers were contemplating to pool up the oil, if still remaining in different containers, in a couple of tanks for pumping purpose. This would be possible only when the requisitioned consignment of small pumps is handed over to the salvage team, added the source.

The spillage incident, involving 30,000 tons of crude oil, is the first of its kind in the country’s history and could be ranked second in the world after the Exxon Valdez disaster in the Alaska Peninsula. The ship, after hitting icebergs, had run aground in the Bligh Reef. About 38,800 tons of oil had spilled from it, causing damages to the village of Chignik, which was finally cleaned up with a cost of about US$2.1 billion.

In the case Tasman Spirit, expert viewed that there was nothing practical in terms of real clean up efforts, which could be attributed to the ill-preparedness on the part of the government and cold-shoulder attitude of salvagers, who have, perhaps, placed the damage to environment and slick-hit beaches on their second or third priorities.

The salvagers have not so far imported any sophisticated equipment or laboratories. On the other hand, the government functionaries are still just getting prepared as far as the damage to health, environment, economy and business are concerned, experts regret.

The Tasman Spirit, carrying 67,532 tons of oil from Iran, has caused a colossal damage to the marine life, coastal habitat, environment and the populated areas along the coastal belt and, as such, bodies supervising or monitoring the rehabilitation process would have to come on a clear term with the salvagers, tanker-owners federation and other stakeholders, otherwise it would take a long time to make up the losses, said a concerned citizen.