Sinking ship in front of Gibraltar

by firmm Team

At the time being there are uncommon things to see besides the common dolphins on our boat trips in the Bay of Algeciras. Since the collision between an oil tanker and a cargo ship loaded with scrap on August 12, the following sight is presented to us:

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Photo above: partly sunken cargo ship before Gibraltar (Foto Carine)

To prevent the further sinking of the Cargo ship it was shored up on a rock, right in front of Gibraltar, approx. 25 m below the surface. But the danger was not banned yet, because in the event that the ship should slide off that underwater rock, it would sink down to a depth of approx. 500m. The salvage work started, and we can only hope that the fuel as well as the oil, which are still in the tanks of the ship, won't leak into the bay.


Press release from 12.08.07

A collision between two ships happened today in the Strait of Gibraltar. Both ships, an oil tanker and a cargo ship were sailing under the Danish flag. The Cargo ship with all the scrap and cinder was on the verge of sinking after the crash with the oil tanker. The oil tanker itself could be brought safely into the harbor of Algeciras (Andalusia). The tanker was loaded with 39.000 t of crude oil. The 26 crew members of the cargo ship could be rescued. That accident happened at 5 o'clock this morning. Why the disaster happened is still being examined. The cargo ship was trying to leave the Mediterranean Sea towards the Atlantic Ocean, it just had left the harbor of Gibraltar, while the oil tanker was heading towards a harbor in Spain. The collision happened about one kilometer off the Spanish coast. The authorities are examining now how to get the fuel out of the cargo ship, to avoid that the leaking oil contaminates the coasts of Andalusia.


-Carine-

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