A tanker carrying 750 tonnes of diesel fuel from Egypt to Malta sank in the Gulf of Gabes off the southeast coast of Tunisia, sparking a rush to avoid a spill.
Xelo, flying the flag of Equatorial Guinea, was sailing from the Egyptian port of Damietta to Malta when he asked to enter Tunisian waters on Friday night due to bad weather.
“The ship sank this morning in Tunisian territorial waters. There is no leak at the moment, “said local court spokesman Mohamed Karai.
A disaster prevention commission will meet in the coming hours to decide on the measures to be taken, he added.
The tanker is 58 meters (190 feet) long and nine meters wide, according to Vesseltracker.com.
It began taking water about 7km (four miles) off the coast of Gabes Bay and the engine room was swallowed, according to a statement from the Tunisian Ministry of Environment. It says Tunisian authorities have evacuated the seven-member crew.
Environment Minister Leila Chihawi was traveling to Gabes to assess the situation … and make the necessary preventive decisions in co-ordination with regional authorities, the ministry said.
Authorities have activated a “national contingency plan to prevent marine pollution in order to control the situation and avoid the spread of pollutants.”
Karai said the Georgian captain, four Turks and two Azerbaijanis had been briefly hospitalized for inspections and were now in a hotel.
The Ministry of Defense, Interior, Transport and Customs are working to avoid a marine environmental disaster in the region and limit its impact, the environment ministry said.
Before the ship sank, he described the situation as “alarming” but “under control”.
Gabes Bay has traditionally been a fishing area, but activists say it has been polluted by phosphate processing industries near the town of Gabes.
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