A small amount of the spill escapes from the perimeter of the bulk carrier’s first containment barrier, which had some 500 tons of fuel oil, diesel and oil inside.
The Gibraltar Port Authority has confirmed a leak of heavy fuel oil from the semi-sunken ship OS35, of which “a small amount” has escaped the perimeter of the barrier. According to the Government of Gibraltar, the rescue team on board has identified the origin of this leak in two vents of the ship’s tanks and has already sent skimmers to the area to collect the spilled fuel. The ship has about 500 tons of fuel oil, diesel and oil inside.
The Gibraltarian Government pointed out that all the vents had been previously sealed, but the closure of two of them became loose during the sinking of the boat. However, they emphasize that the divers present at the site have been able to restore the seals, so the release of oil from the vents is in the process of being stopped.
The Gibraltarian Government has indicated this Thursday in a statement that a person has been arrested, although it does not specify if it is the captain of the ship.
For its part, the Port Authority of Gibraltar and the Spanish Maritime Rescue Ship ‘Luz de Mar’ are collecting the spilled fuel. “Both the launch of the Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) and the ‘Luz de Mar’, of Spanish Maritime Salvage, have deployed J-shaped barriers to contain the fuel that floats adrift. Both vessels work closely together, “says Gibraltar in a statement, announcing the arrival of two other ships in the area. The Government of the Rock reports that until midnight on Thursday, 112 cubic meters of diesel had been pumped to a barge, half of the fuel that the OS35 carries in its tanks.
The hull of the bulk carrier OS 35, loaded with steel bars, collided with another ship, the Adam LNG, on Monday when it was maneuvering out of Gibraltar Bay. All the people on board, the 24 crew members of the Tuvalu-flagged ship and six inspectors, were evacuated without any problem.
Gibraltar moved the OS 35 away to be able to beach it and thus try to minimize risks. The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo, informed the mayors of the area and the Andalusian president, Juan Manuel Bonilla, of the situation.
The situation of OS 35 caused Agadén-Ecologistas en Acción to demand the “urgent intervention” of the Spanish Ministry of Transport, as this accident revealed that the port of Gibraltar does not have “sufficient means or technical preparation to deal with such a delicate situation” The environmentalists assured that “the environment and the economy of the Bay of Algeciras and the Costa del Sol” are being endangered because they fear an oil slick that could be caused by the dumping of the 460 tons, “between oils and fuel », which the bulk carrier carries inside.
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