The capsizing of the Liberia-flagged cargo vessel MSC ELSA 3 carrying plastic pellets in several containers off the coast of Kochi in Kerala is indicative of how plastics can impact marine biodiversity.

Relief workers found it difficult to collect plastic pellets spread across the coast from Kochi to Thiruvananthapuram from the containers that had drifted towards the coast, pushing the state government to declare the incident as a “state-specific” disaster.

The Kerala government declared a compensation of ₹1,000 per day for fishermen, who were not able to venture into the Arabian Sea, for fishing following the accident. The nurdles, a foundational material in the manufacture of a wide range of plastic products and white in colour, are believed to have broken out from the containers found on the coast.

The cargo vessel, on its way to Kochi port from the Vizhinjam International Seaport, had developed a 26-degree starboard list and subsequently sank around 14.5 nautical miles from the Kerala coast on the morning of May 25. While all the 24 foreign crew members were rescued in joint operations by the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), dozens of containers from among the 643 onboard the vessel were scattered in the sea. Over 50 of them, mostly empty, have since then drifted to Kerala’s coast. At least 12 containers, filled with dangerous goods such as calcium carbide, and another filled with rubber........

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