space Press Releases, News Stories

Agence France Presse

SAINT LUCIA, South Africa, 18 September 2002 -- Salvage workers have dropped a plan to tow a burning Italian ship stranded off South Africa's east coast out to sea for fear it might break up and cause a major oil spill, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. "A directive has been issued that the ship should not be moved under any circumstances. There is a very real fear that she might break," said Donna van Staden, spokeswoman for the local disaster management committee. "The priority now is to remove pollutants."

An estimated 800 tonnes of heavy fuel oil remained aboard the Italian- registered Jolly Rubino, a 190-metre (625-foot) roll-on, roll-off vessel which caught fire on Tuesday last week when it was 25 nautical miles offshore, near Greater Saint Lucia Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The 31,000-tonne ship, which had been en route from South Africa to Kenya, was laden with a cargo that included toxic chemicals. Salvage workers initially planned to tow the ship 200 nautical miles out into the Indian Ocean and sink it to prevent an environmental disaster at the wetland park, threatened by the slicks. Van Staden said the committee issued the order not to move the ship after the fire on board got worse on Wednesday morning. The fire prevented workers from pumping out water in the engine room. A gash in the port side of the Jolly Rubino had "worsened substantially" late on Tuesday and a new crack was discovered on the starboard side "from which oil is seen to be emanating", the Smit Salvage company said.

The blaze spread to the area of the new crack Wednesday morning, hampering efforts to patch it. "The focus has shifted to fire-fighting," Van Staden said. The ship's crew of 22 were airlifted to safety last week when the Jolly Rubino first caught fire, but the vessel ran aground around 300 metres (yards) offshore, close to the Saint Lucia wetlands, home to hippopotami, crocodiles and 115 species of water birds including pelicans and flamingoes, as well as mangrove forests. Van Staden said the environmental situation remained unchanged. Up to now, no oil has entered the reserve, and no dead birds have been sighted.

KwaZulu-Natal province wildlife authorities had bulldozed sand across river mouths and laid oil-absorbent booms to protect the flora and fauna in the wetlands. The crew of a pollution control aircraft reported that a slick was running southwest, parallel to the coast, for about 600 metres (yards) before it headed out to sea, where it broke up into sheen after about five nautical miles.