Owner of MV New Diamond to pay $1.8 million for Sri Lankan help

COLOMBO: The owner of a large oil tanker that caught fire off Sri Lanka’s coast has agreed to pay $1.8 million to the country for its help in extinguishing the blaze, The Associated Press reported.

Greece-based Porto Emporios Shipping is the registered owner of 20-year-old vessel MV New Diamond.

Nishara Jayaratne, the coordinating officer in the Attorney General’s Department, said the owner agreed to pay the claim in full.

According to The Associated Press, she said the attorney general is expected to present another claim of about half a million dollars for additional services rendered to the ship.

She said an interim report on environmental damage has also been submitted to the ship’s owner, and that a separate claim for that will be presented after the final report is complete.

MV New Diamond, which was carrying nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil, was damaged by two fires over a week in early September.