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Quake causes oil spill near Kandla port

A powerful earthquake which rocked western India on Friday, has caused an oil spill around the country's busiest port of Kandla posing a major threat to the environment, The Hindustan Times reported on Saturday.

The newspaper, quoting government sources, said that the oil slick was big but it was not clear if it was from tankers berthed at the port or from underground storage tanks in the port area.

"If the underground tanks have been ruptured and oil is seeping into the sea, then we are heading for a big ecological problem," the report quoted an unnamed senior official as saying.

The Kandla port in Gujarat is the busiest in India and the key import point for oil. The newspaper said that the Indian Coast Guard had despatched two patrol boats to investigate the slick and the Navy had sent two ships for assistance.

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