Pollution alert as oil tanker hits sunken transporter

Published on Thursday 2 January 2003 00:00

A SHIP carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable gas oil last night collided with the submerged car transporter which sank in the English Channel two weeks ago.

The Dover coastguard said the Turkish-registered Vicky hit the Tricolor at about 7:30pm last night and became stuck on top of it. French officials were co-ordinating an emergency operation following the accident, which happened in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

The master of the Vicky said he did not believe the 24 crew members needed to be evacuated from the ship, which was listing 10 degrees to its port side. There were no reported injuries.

The Vicky floated off the Tricolor during high tide just after 10pm and was last night anchored one mile north of the wreck where a damage inspection was being carried out.

Three tug boats, including one which is English, and a warship from the French navy were on standby nearby.

The Vicky is the second vessel to strike the submerged Tricolor, which was carrying 2,862 BMWs, Volvos and Saabs worth an estimated 30 million when it sank off the French port of Dunkirk on 14 December.

It was not yet known how badly damaged the hull was, or whether the vessel was leaking its load of kerosene. But eyewitnesses described a smell of fuel in the air.

The coastguard said it was not yet known if there was any imminent danger of the Vicky’s highly flammable oil igniting, or whether the ship was sinking.

Andrew Linington, a spokesman for the maritime union NUMAST, said he was "appalled" to hear of the latest accident. "About 90 per cent of accidents like this are the result of the human factor," he said.

"People are the key to shipping safety and it’s time attention was drawn to the people on board ships and the conditions they work under. There is a constant drive to reduce crewing levels and people can be working 80 to 90 hours a week on busy waterways like these.

The 243 metre-long, 43,000 tonne tanker was sailing from Antwerp in Belgium to New York when it struck the ship.

This latest incident will further fuel claims France mishandled the aftermath of the Tricolor, which occurred within its waters.

The Norwegian-registered vessel sank after colliding with cargo freighter Kariba in thick fog on 14 December. Its crew of 24 scrambled into lifeboats as the 50,000-tonne, 200-metre ship went down within 90 minutes.

But the waters in which she sank are so shallow that the wreck has posed an immediate hazard to other vessels.

Another cargo ship, Nicola, hit the Tricolor on 16 December. Its crew were not hurt.

The French authorities have been accused of not doing enough to warn other ships about the Tricolor’s whereabouts.

The Dutch firm Smit Salvage, which is overseeing the recovery of Tricolor, believes adequate warnings were given.

The French maritime prefecture has defended its actions regarding the recovery operation, saying the position of the Tricolor had already been marked by two buoys.

The Vicky, built in 1981, is a single-hulled, double bottomed vessel - meaning it has an extra layer of metal around the base of the hull.