Operation to recover a bulk carrier collided with an LNG carrier are currently on going.
How did the accident happen?
A bulk Carrier, OS 35 which collided with an LNG carrier causing a major accident in Gibraltar is currently beached. The bulk carrier containing fuels collided with the LNG carrier earlier last week. Port authority is trying to minimize the release of any oil to the sea. Bloom was placed around the half sunk OS 35 to prevent further spreading of oil from the vessel.
What has been done?
A salvage team has been working on since last week to rescue the vessel. The team which has been working against the clock have recovered nearly all the oils aboard the vessel. While ship recovery focuses on different parts of ship, there is a cleanup efforts to prevent oil spills to the sea and beaches of Gibraltar. Thus the government is looking forward to start some port operations.
“With the exception of Tank 2, the salvors are confident that all concentrations of pumpable oil have been extracted, including those in the main engine room tanks. Some product remains in Tank 2, which the salvors plan to attempt to extract,” the Government said on Monday.
However even with less threats to the environment, the government warned to be cautious because there are still tanks to be emptied around the vessel. Furthermore, there is a disagreement between vessel crew and salvage team on fuel reported in the vessel and the fuel removed from the vessel. A final measure of the amount of diesel and sulfur oil is still being taken currently. There is also search for another oil presence in void spaces and non-tank areas.
The government warned that, “Continued discharge of pollutants is expected until the time that the salvage operations are complete.”
Additionally, the salvage team had to work on challenging weather overnight to recover the vessel. The second containment boom around the vessel was displaced but it was recovered later.
According to Gibraltar government, there are teams working along the shoreline to clean oil that has reached the beaches. The next phase of the Operation to recover a bulk carrier collided with an LNG carrier, is removing contaminants from the vessel is currently on going.
