FocusOn News   Dramatic moment stranded ship sunk off coast of Brazil
Channel: FocusOn News Agency
Date: 2020-06-16

For a clean copy of the video, with story and images download directly from https://focusonnewsagency.com/ website. 

DRAMATIC MOMENT STRANDED SHIP IS SENT PLUNGING TO A
WATERY GRAVE IN ATLANTIC OCEAN

THIS IS THE DRAMATIC moment a stranded merchant ship was intentionally sunk into the depth of the South Atlantic ocean off the coast of Brazil. 
In less than two minutes, the Stellar Banner disappeared in a huge plume of dark red iron ore particles in the Maranhão waters last Friday (12), about 150 kilometres off the country’s north east coast. 
All that was left floating in the giant ochre circle staining the calm waters was the ship’s funnel which broke off and bobbed around for a few seconds before it too plunged to the seabed.
Around 145,000 tonnes of iron ore and 3,900 cubic metres of oil were removed from the holds before the massive seacraft was scuttled. 
The carrier, chartered by Brazilian mining giant Vale to carry a commissioned load, ran aground three months ago as it left the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in São Luís, while transporting 295 thousand tonnes of ore from Brazil to Qingdao in China.
The massive vessel suffered two irreparable cracks on the hull, affecting around 25 metres. To prevent it from sinking the commander allegedly steered it into a huge sand bank where it listed heavily but did not capsize.
All 20 crew members were safely airlifted off after the incident.
The $100 million ship was refloated a week ago to assess its structure and an underwater inspection, carried out by a team of commercial divers and a remotely operated submarine vehicle (ROV), declared the vessel a total loss. 
Owner, South Korean firm Polaris Shipping, took the decision that scuttling the ore carrier was the only option.