An oil slick was located in the area of the sinking of the Italian ship “Great America“, which sank on Tuesday off La Rochelle, with hazardous materials and 2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil in its bunkers, raising fears of pollution of the French coasts, the maritime authorities announced on Wednesday.
“During the flight carried out this afternoon over the sinking zone of the Great America (…) an oil slick was located“, announced Wednesday evening in a press release the maritime prefecture, specifying that it extended over ten kilometers long and one kilometer wide. These aerial observations were confirmed by the BSAA (Chartered support and assistance building) VN Sapeur, maintained in the area of the shipwreck where the sea is very rough with waves of 4 to 6 meters, according to the same source.
The Atlantic maritime prefect, Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Lozier, ordered the departure from Brest of the ship specializing in pollution control BSAA Argonaute. He is expected in the area Thursday morning, said the maritime prefecture, indicating that it had also requested the assistance of pollution control resources from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil
Previously, in the afternoon, the maritime prefect announced at a press conference in Brest (west) that the ship was transporting “365 containers, 45 of which are listed as containing hazardous materials and a little over 2,000 vehicles“. He added that the ship’s bunkers contained some 2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, the main source of concern according to him, considering that the Atlantic coast between Charente-Maritime and the Gironde risked being affected by pollution.”in several days“.
The prefect once again gave formal notice on Wednesday morning to the owner, Grimaldi Group, of “end the danger to navigation and the marine environment represented by containers and other drifting elements” and of “treat any maritime pollution“. The shipowner will thus have to carry out investigations on the wreckage in order to determine in what condition it is and in particular if its tanks are pierced.
“Car breakers”
The ship sank on Tuesday afternoon 333 kilometers west of the port of La Rochelle at 4,600 meters deep, which could complicate any pumping operations.
He claimed to have received from the shipowner “a complete inventory“of the contents of containers containing hazardous materials, including around 100 tonnes of hydrochloric acid and some 70 tonnes of sulfuric acid.
Any pollution that could be caused by these products “would be very localized“, he assured.”Dilution in ocean space would not have serious consequences for the environment“, he added, pointing out that a large part of these products had probably already burned. The”Great America“, a hybrid ship between a ro-ro and a container ship, with a length of 214 meters, was coming from Hamburg (Germany) and was due to go to Casablanca (Morocco) when a fire broke out on board on Sunday evening, for a reason still unknown.
“So far, I have no idea why the fire started“, according to the maritime prefect, adding however to have been informed of a fire in the garage then of a fire in a container. The Robin des Bois association intends to file a complaint for pollution and abandonment of waste.”2000 vehicles, it’s a car junkyard at the bottom of the sea representing hundreds of tons of toxic materials in an area very rich in fish, plankton and marine mammals“, rebelled with AFP Jacky Bonnemains, spokesperson for the NGO, saying he also feared possible pollution of the coast.
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