The United Kingdom officials were worried about the possible environmental damage on Tuesday and looking for answers one day after a cargo ship hit a tanker truck that transported reaction fuel for the US army in eastern England, burning both ships.
The fuel for airplanes of a broken tank in the North Sea after the container ship registered in Portugal Solong extended by the tank truck with American flag Stena Immaculate on Monday. The collision caused explosions and fires that burned for more than 24 hours. The images filmed from a helicopter on Tuesday morning showed that the fire seemed to be largely in the oil tanker, which had a great wound in its port.
The United Kingdom Coast Guard agency said Tuesday that “the Solong is still on and that the fire aboard Stena Immaculate has decreased a lot.” He said that the cargo ship was drifting south, far from the oil tanker, and an exclusion area of 1 kilometer (around 1/2 mile) had been placed around both ships. The Government said the cause of the collision was being investigated, but there were no signs of dirty game.
Government Minister Matthew Pennycook said it was a “dynamic and rapid movement.”
He said that air quality readings were normal and that the Coast Guard units “are well equipped to contain and disperse any oil spill”, with equipment that includes auges deployed from ships to stop the propagation of oil, and airplanes that can sprinkle dispersants in a spill.
The collision triggered an important rescue operation for lifeboats, Coast Guard aircraft and commercial vessels in the nebulous North Sea.
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All but one of the 37 members of the crew of the two ships were brought to ground safely in the port of Grimsby, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of London, without important injuries. A crew member was missing, and the coast guards canceled the search Monday night.
The United Kingdom Marine accident investigation has begun to gather evidence of what the Solong caused, tied from Grangemouth, Scotland, to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to hit the stationary oil tanker, which was anchored to about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the English coast.
The investigation will be directed by the United States and Portugal, the countries where ships are marked.
The Stena Immaculate of 183 meters (596 feet) was operating as part of the United States government government security program, a group of commercial vessels that can be hired to transport fuel for the military when necessary. Its operator, the United States maritime management firm, Crowley, said it had 220,000 Jet-A1 fuel barrels in 16 tanks, at least one of which broke.
The company said it was not clear how much fuel had leaked to the sea.
The owner of the Solong shipping company, Ernst Russ, said that, unlike previous reports, the ship did not transport sodium cyanide containers, which can produce harmful gases when combined with water. He said that four empty containers had previously contained the chemist.
“Our team is actively committed to all local authorities, and we will work with cleaning equipment to ensure that everything possible to mitigate more impacts on the marine environment,” the company said in a statement.
Greenpeace UK said it was too early to assess the scope of any environmental damage of the collision, which took place near the busy fishing fields and the main colonies of seabirds.
Environmentalists said that oil and chemicals represented a risk for marine life, including whales and dolphins and for birds, including frailecillos, jnetas and guillemotes living in coastal cliffs.
Tom Webb, Professor of Ecology and Marine Conservation at the University of Sheffield, said that wildlife throughout that section of coast “is of immense biological, cultural and economic importance.”
“In addition to the wealth of marine life that is present throughout the year, this time of the year is crucial for many migratory species,” he said.
Alex Lukyanov, who models oil spills at Reading University, said the environmental impact would depend on multiple factors, including “the size of the spill, climatic conditions, sea currents, water waves, wind patterns and the type of oil involved.”
“This particular incident is worrying because it seems to involve persistent oil, which slowly breaks in the water,” he said. “The environmental toll could be severe.”
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press