Divers today began inspecting the hull of a tanker carrying 750 tonnes of fuel that sank yesterday off the southeastern coast of Tunisia, where no contamination has been detected so far, according to authorities.
The nature conservation group WWF however warned of the risk of "a new environmental disaster in the area" of Gabes, an important fishing zone of about 400,000 people that has already suffered pollution episodes.
In images released by the environment and defence ministries, navy divers can be seen preparing to depart, then dive into the water at the site of the wreck. "Thanks to improving weather conditions, a team of divers accompanied by the captain and the ship's engineer, who know the configuration of the ship, are going to the site to examine the hull," Gambes court spokesman Mohamed Karai, who has launched an investigation into the causes of the shipwreck, told Agence France-Presse.
According to initial official findings, "there has been no spill at this time" of the cargo the ship was carrying. The tanker Xelo, which had departed from the port of Damietta in Egypt and was bound for Malta, sank yesterday, Saturday, in Tunisian waters where it had taken refuge on Friday night due to bad weather conditions.
For an unknown reason, the tanker, 58 metres long and 9 metres wide, loaded with 750 tonnes of petrol, began to take on water. Authorities then proceeded to evacuate the seven crew members before the vessel sank into the sea at dawn. A video from the Environment Ministry now shows nothing but the edge of a mast rising from the waves. The zone has been taken under military control and is not accessible to the press. Assuring they can prevent a major spill, authorities have announced the installation of floating dams as well as pumping out the cargo or towing the ship.
They say they have received offers of help from foreign countries, without saying which ones. According to local media, Italy has proposed sending a special vessel to manage maritime disasters. "We believe that the means we have deployed will allow us to limit the accident" and avoid a major pollution, Environment Minister Leila Sicaoui, who went to the wreck site at dawn today, told Agence France-Presse yesterday.
For its part, the transport ministry said it wanted to verify the exact commercial nature of the vessel and its route in recent weeks.
According to the transport ministry, the ship had stopped from 4 to 8 April in the Tunisian port of Sfax, a large industrial city north of Gabes, to change crew, refuel and make light repairs, without carrying out any loading or unloading.
The name of the owner of the vessel (registration number OMI 7618272), built in 1977 and flying the flag of Equatorial Guinea, does not appear on commercial vessel tracking websites. According to the spokesman for the Gabes court, it is owned by two individuals, a Libyan and a Turk.
WWF recalled that the wreck site is a fishing zone for 600 fishermen and that the Gulf of Gabes is home to some 34,000 fishermen who have suffered from chemical pollution attacks for decades. The area has suffered pollution episodes caused by phosphate conversion industries and a pipeline carrying oil from the Tunisian south.
Source: Proto Thema
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