British experts battled on Monday to prevent an ecological disaster by offloading about 3Â 500 tonnes of fuel oil in a stricken container ship beached off the English south coast.
While scavengers began pillaging containers washed up on the beach, operations were also under way to clean up some of the 200 tonnes of lighter fuel that has already started to leak out from the MSC Napoli.
“It’s the main concern. It’s very difficult to control — for the moment, the fuel is still in the tanks. If it stays there, it is easy to remove,” said Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) spokesperson Paul Coley.
“We hope to start probably with the first light. That depends on the weather. That should last a couple days,” he said.
Coley said early attempts to remove the oil leaking from the ship failed on Sunday.
The oil is dispersed over an 8km by 500m area of sea in Lyme Bay. The coastline is a designated world heritage site.
“This sheen … is breaking up and dissipating. There is increasing confidence that no major tanks have been breached,” said the MCA.
“During the day, the salvors will be assessing the situation regarding the vessel so that pumping arrangements can be configured.”
The Napoli was left with large gashes on both sides by Thursday’s storms in the Channel and, fearing the battered vessel would have broken apart and sunk, officials ordered tugs to beach it.
The 62Â 000-tonne vessel was carrying 2Â 323 containers, 158 of which were classed as hazardous, including industrial and agricultural chemicals. They were mostly stacked inside the ship and away from the edges.
The 16-year-old freighter, 275m long, is lying in shallow water off Branscombe village, about 25km east of the city of Exeter. It is listing at between 25 and 18 degrees.
At least 200 containers have fallen off, three of which have some hazardous materials inside — one contained perfume and battery acid, while another contained small car parts.
Dozens of containers have washed up on the beach, with members of the public warned to stay away.
But that has not stopped local scavengers heading down and grabbing whatever booty they could get their hands on — grinning opportunists rode off on looted BMW motorbikes, while intrepid beachcombers made off with cosmetics, sports shoes, empty barrels, camcorders, steering wheels and even exhaust pipes.
Robin Middleton, the government’s salvage expert leading the operation, said that while the ship was heading for port, he decided to beach the vessel because it was on course to sink, fully laden with cargo and oil. He told of dire consequences had it done so in deep water.
“The advice was overwhelmingly that if that vessel sank with the cargoes on and that we could not recover them, there would be a large and long-term environmental disaster,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
As storms battered Europe, the Napoli ran into trouble in the Channel, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
All 26 crew were lifted off by Royal Navy rescue helicopters as they abandoned the ship in 12m seas and 110kph winds.
Middleton said dragging the ship into the shelter of Lyme Bay was the best and only solution.
The vessel is registered in London and owned by the Swiss Mediterranean Shipping Company. — AFP