Vasan, who inspected the salvage operations of 'Pratibha Cauvery' which drifted in high velocity wind and ran aground hours before cyclone Nilam crossed Mahabalipuram coast on Oct 31, said there was some success in pulling back the ship.
"Four attempts were made to pull back the ship using tug 'Malaviya'. There was some success in the third attempt... I was assured by officials that in next two or three days, there is a possibility of pulling the ship out of its present location," he told reporters.
The fifth round of towing will take place tonight, he said, adding, another tug MCI Ratna would join the operations.
Vasan said officials had assured him that about 356 tonne of surface oil in the tanker had been sealed and there was no risk of oil leak.
He also said efforts were on to remove the 9,000 tonnes of ballast water in the ship so that it would be more easy to tow the vessel.
Noting that the DG Shipping inquiry was on into the incident which claimed the lives of six sailors of the ship, he said the probe will be completed in a month's time and the report would reveal the factual position.
"Only on that basis, the Ministry will take action. Whatever action required to be taken by the Ministry, it will be taken", he said.
To a query on how ship was allowed to sail even after its seaworthiness certificate had expired on October 1, he said all these would be looked into once the DG Shipping submitted the inquiry report.
The Minister also presented cheques for Rs 50,000 each to the five fishermen who braved the rough sea conditions and rescued five crew members of the ship on October 31.
