Salvage work continues on 100,000 tonne cargo ship damaged by fire on west coast

WORK continued yesterday on salvaging a cargo ship which was badly damaged by fire on the west coast of Scotland.

The 100,000 tonne bulk carrier Yeoman Bontrup caught light at the Glensanda pier on the Morven peninsula in Lochaber at about 3:30pm on Friday.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency yesterday said the incident was under the control of the Secretaries of States representative, who was on scene with the salvage company, SMIT Salvage.

The vessel still has small pockets of fire which SMIT salvage are attending to.

The eight-man specialist Highlands and Islands maritime firefighting team were transported to the scene by an RAF rescue helicopter from Lossiemouth, with the assistance of coastguard rescue officers from the Portmahomack team. The firemen have now left.

In addition to the equipment being flown in from Holland by the salvage company, the MCA is transporting pumps and breathing apparatus to the scene from storage across the UK.

Secretaries of States Representative Hugh Shaw said: "The seriousness of the fire and remoteness of the location have made this a difficult incident to resolve. The salvage company is now on scene and are working hard to stabilise the vessel and eliminate the pollution threat from the heavy fuel oil on board."

No-one was seriously injured but the vessel is believed to have been extensively damaged.

The blaze took hold on the Bahamas-registered ship on the conveyor belt used to carry material from the quarry to the ship.

The coastguard said all crew members were safe, however the area of the vessel housing the crew quarters suffered significant damage.