Divers seal tank vents leaking oil from bulk carrier off Gibraltar
01/09/2022 14:43
By Jon Nazca
GIBRALTAR, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Divers sealed two tank vents
that leaked fuel from a bulk carrier that was damaged and
beached after a collision off the British enclave of Gibraltar
on the southern tip of Spain, local authorities said on
Thursday.
The hull of the bulk carrier OS 35 broke after the collision
with an LNG tanker and started leaking fuel oil on Wednesday,
but the vessel has not broken into two parts. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N30760D
"The Captain of the Port confirmed that the leak of low
sulphur fuel oil from the tank vents is fully under control,"
the Gibraltar government said in a statement.
The LNG tanker was not significantly affected by the
collision, according to local authorities.
The Gibraltar Port Authority is working with a Spanish
marine rescue crew to collect a small amount of fuel oil that
escaped the perimeter of a boom installed soon after Tuesday's
collision, as well as to skim the fuel that has remained inside
the boom.
At the same time the authority is ramping up efforts to
start pumping the fuel oil, diesel and lube oil from the vessel.
Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo told Spanish
broadcaster TVE earlier on Thursday the operation to remove
around 500 tonnes of the fuel from the ship's tanks should take
around 50 hours using the ship's own pumps.
The Gibraltar Port was partly closed to focus its resources
on dealing with the emergency, but some operations, such as the
arrival of a cruise ship on Thursday, have been allowed to
proceed.
(Reporting by Jon Nazca
Writing by Emma Pinedo in Madrid
Editing by Inti Landauro and Frances Kerry)
((emma.pinedo@thomsonreuters.com; +918 35 68 34;))