French authorities are rushing to stop an oil spill from reaching the country's west coast after an Italian-registered cargo ship sank in the Bay of Biscay.

 

 Although the government's initial statement only said there had been "dangerous materials" on board the ill-fated Grande America, local officials told French news agency Agence France-Presse that the vessel was leaking oil.

The ship had been en route from Hamburg to Casablanca, carrying 2,000 vehicles and 2,200 tons of fuel, when a fire broke out late Sunday. The 26 crew members and single passenger were forced to abandon ship when it caught fire, and were rescued by Britain's Royal Navy.

The lifeboat was "bobbing around like a cork in a bathtub," HMS Argyll officer Lieutenant Commander Dave Tetchner was quoted as saying in news story on the Royal Navy's website.

"The conditions were horrendous — the vessels were rolling at 30 degrees which made it extremely hairy getting the sailors safely on board," he said.

The drifting ship, still in flames, finally sank on Tuesday about 180 nautical miles (333 kilometers) west of France.

Vice-Admiral Jean-Louis Lozier, France's maritime prefect for the Atlantic, said the Italian shipping company Grimaldi Group had been ordered to ensure that no toxic materials reached the French mainland.

Overnight on Wednesday, the French navy reportedly discovered an oil spill several kilometers long. In a statement, Grimaldi has said it was working with French authorities to prevent any damage to the environment.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> The fire on the Grimaldi vessel Grande America started in a container stowed on deck of the vessel, Grimaldi told FreightWaves today.

The ship sank in the Bay of Biscay, off the west coast of France following the fire while en route from Hamburg, Germany to Casablanca in Morocco with a cargo of 363 containers and a load of cars, trucks and vans in the roll-on/roll-off section of the vessel.

A spokesman for Grimaldi said that an investigation is currently underway that will confirm the cargo that was on board the vessel and its value, as well as the cause of the fire. It is not thought that there was any misdeclared cargo on board, said the spokesman.

The Grande America sank on 12 March following the fire, which caused the vessel to list heavily before slipping beneath the waves, This was the third major fire on a container ship this year.

All 26 crew and a single passenger were rescued from the burning ship by a British Navy frigate on 11 March. </s> Beijing — The Iranian oil tanker Sanchi sank into the East China Sea on Sunday afternoon after a blast, causing a "serious" oil spill that covered 10km², state television reported, citing China’s State Oceanic Administration.

The oil from the tanker was still burning, China Central Television reported on Sunday. A State Oceanic Administration official reached by phone said the administration is collecting data from the spill area, and the administration said on its website that the spill will have an impact on the environment. All 32 crew members on board the vessel that had been burning for a week were presumed dead, said an Iranian official on Sunday.

The Sanchi was ferrying almost 1-million barrels of condensate — a highly flammable hydrocarbon liquid that is used in petrochemical production — when it collided with bulk carrier CF Crystal off the coast of Shanghai on January 6.

If all the condensate leaked into the sea instead of burning off, the spill would be one of the biggest from a ship over the past five decades. The cargo size of about 150,000 metric tons aboard the Sanchi exceeds the 35,000 tons of crude that the Exxon Valdez spilled near Alaska — the biggest such incident in US history. That 1989 spill led to the destruction of thousands of marine fauna and long-term environmental damage. </s> City of Balikpapan is struggling to deal with toxic smoke from fire that killed four fisherman

The Indonesian port city of Balikpapan, on the island of Borneo, has declared a state of emergency after a devastating oil spill spread along the coast, killing four fisherman when it ignited.

The oil spill, which occurred over the weekend, has now stretched to an area of around seven square miles (18 sq km), contaminating the sea and polluting the air with thick black smoke. One protected dugong has already washed up dead on the shore.

The four fisherman died after being caught up in the fire caused by the spill – another is still missing – and the port city of Balikpapan, which has a population of 700,000, is struggling to deal with the toxic smoke.

China: oil slick from sunken tanker trebles in size Read more

“We’re in a state of emergency because of the oil spill’s impact,” said the Balikpapan city secretary MN Fadli. Around 1,200 people who live in the Penajam North Penajam Paser subdistrict reported symptoms of nausea, vomiting and breathing problems after the spill caught fire on Saturday and the city has distributed masks to help residents cope with the smell.

“I may sound like I’m exaggerating, but the state of the bay is like that of a gas station,” said Fadli.

The spill is thought to have been caused by a bulk coal carrier, which was carrying coal from Indonesia to Malaysia, but samples have also been taken from Pertamina, a state-owned oil refinery that has pipelines across the bay. Pertamina has denied it is responsible for the leak.

The full environmental impact of the oil spill is not yet known but it is already affecting the livelihoods of the local fisherman who rely on going out in their boats every day.

The Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry said a recovery team was working to contain and clean up the spill. Rasio Ridho Sani, the director general of the ministry, said: “Our team in the field is investigating it thoroughly. We will soon find out how big the impact is on the environment and who will be held responsible.” </s> April 3 (UPI) -- Indonesian authorities on Tuesday declared a state of emergency after an oil spill last weekend that killed multiple people.

A fire ignited from the spill killed four fishermen in the port city of Balikpapan, off the coast of Borneo Island.

"We're in a state of emergency because of the oil spill's impact," Balikpapan City Secretary Fadli told The Straits Times.

Fadli added that the situation near the spill is still volatile.

"I may sound like I'm exaggerating, but the state of the bay is like that of a gas station," he said.

The spill has spread rapidly since Saturday to areas around ports and beaches.

Environmental officials said a recovery team is working to contain the oil with floating barriers and chemical sprays.

"Our focus now is to mitigate the impact of the oil spill," environmental director Rasio Ridho Sani said. "[We] have worked together to minimize the impact."

Rasio said masks have been distributed to protect residents from the spilled fuel. About 1,200 people have become sickened so far.

The cause of the spill is under investigation. </s> An Iranian oil tanker ablaze off the Chinese coast is at risk of exploding or sinking, authorities said Monday, as they reported there was no sign of survivors 36 hours after the vessel erupted in flames. The huge fire still raged around the stricken ship, which had been carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil, with thick black smoke billowing from the vessel and the surrounding sea.

Rescuers attempting to reach the crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis were being beaten back by toxic clouds, China’s transportation ministry said.

The Panamanian-flagged 274-metre (899-foot) tanker Sanchi is “in danger of exploding or sinking”, the ministry said.

State broadcaster CCTV posted a video on Twitter showing the fire seemingly under control as a second vessel sprayed it with a water cannon.

Rescuers had recovered one unidentified body as of Monday afternoon, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during a regular press briefing.

“Conditions… are not that favourable for search and rescue work,” he said, adding that “we are also investigating how to prevent any secondary disaster.”

The accident happened on Saturday evening 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai.

The tanker, operated by Iran’s Glory Shipping, was heading to South Korea when it collided with a Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship, the CF Crystal, carrying 64,000 tonnes of grain.

Ten government vessels and “many fishing ships” were helping with the ongoing rescue and clean up effort, the transportation ministry said, adding that a South Korean coast guard ship was also on the scene.

A US Navy aircraft participated in the search on Sunday, scouring a large area before returning to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.

As Chinese authorities raced to contain the ship’s leaking oil, experts expressed fear that the accident was poised to create a massive environmental disaster.

Greenpeace said in a statement it was “concerned about the potential environmental damage that could be caused by the 1 million barrels of crude oil on board.” If all of the Sanchi’s cargo spills, it would be the biggest oil slick in decades. By comparison, in the sixth-worst spill since the 1960s, the Odyssey dumped 132,000 tonnes some 700 nautical miles off Canada’s Nova Scotia in 1988, according to figures from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation website. “It’s very possible this will kill off marine life across a wide area,” Wei Xianghua, an environmental expert at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, told AFP Even under a best case scenario, it would take a “long time” for the area to get back to normal, Wei added. “At present, the only thing to be done is make the best effort to not allow the oil to spread to other places.” China had two vessels working to contain the spill early Monday morning, the transportation ministry said in its statement. Iran’s Petroleum Ministry said the tanker belongs to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and was delivering its cargo to South Korea’s Hanwha Total. The ship and its cargo were insured, a statement said. This is the second accident in less than two years involving a tanker owned by the NITC. In August 2016, an Iranian supertanker and a container ship collided in the Singapore Strait, causing damage to both vessels but no injuries or pollution. Saturday’s collision was the latest in a series of fatal maritime accidents to hit East Asia in recent years. Last October, 13 crew on a Chinese fishing boat were killed after their vessel collided with a Hong Kong oil tanker off Japan’s west coast. US Navy vessels have also been involved in some accidents, including a collision between the USS John. S. McCain and a tanker off Singapore last August that killed 10 sailors. </s> Indonesia has declared a state of emergency after a large oil spill ignited and killed at least four people in the port city of Balikpapan off the island of Borneo over the weekend.

Black smoke rises from a burned oil spill at the waters in Balikpapan, Indonesia, March 31, 2018. A cargo ship caught fire in waters off East Kalimantan province in central Indonesia on Saturday, leaving two people dead and two others missing, an official said.

See also: Oilspill BP Gulf of Mexico: BP Macondo 252 Well Is Effectivily and Finally ‘Dead’ – The Next Oil Spill at Mumbai Coast: Clean up to take 45 days – Oil & Water: An Oil Documentary Like No Other – Stop Deepwater Drilling for Oil in The Arctic: It’s Time to Go Beyond Oil by Greenpeace – Trailer movie H2Oil – Toxic Fuels: Dirty Oil narrated by Neve Campbell – Crude: The Real Price of Oil – A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash – Toxic Fuels: Petropolis by Peter Mettler – Edward Burtynsky: OIL, a photographic documentation – Shell’s Big Dirty Secret </s> Share this article with Google Plus

A 225-metre-long ship has crashed into a historic mansion in Istanbul after its rudder failed.

The Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi mansion was built in the 18th century and regularly hosts weddings and concerts.

It was severely damaged in the collision, with splinted wood and holes in the walls clearly visible from the river.

Turkey’s Bosporus Strait was closed to boats for several hours yesterday afternoon, the Daily Sabah reported.

The vessel, called The Vitaspirit, had a Maltese flag and was heading to Saudi Arabia from Russia.

No environmental threats have been reported from the accident and no-one was injured during the crash.

Every year over 50,000 vessels pass through the Bosporus, an S-shaped channel with sharp turns and changing currents, and it has been an accident black spot for a century.

A Romanian tanker and a Greek freighter collided and exploded in November 1979, killing 42 crew members aboard the Romanian tanker.

In 2003, a Georgian-flagged vessel ran aground resulting in a spill of 480 tons of oil.

MORE: Police ‘increasingly concerned to find’ missing man, 79, who has dementia

MORE: ‘For sale’ shed that’s about to fall off cliff probably isn’t a bargain </s> Nengi James-Eriworio, a spokesman for the Nembe Chiefs Council, told The Associated Press that the blast on Friday caused a massive oil spill in the Nembe Kingdom in Bayelsa State.

There was no immediate word on injuries or other casualties beyond those missing.

The Nembe trunk line is operated by the Port Harcourt-based Aiteo Group and carries crude to the Bonny export terminal. The pipeline is jointly owned by Agip, Oando and Shell Petroleum Development Company.

Aiteo has not yet commented on the explosion. It was not immediately clear whether the pipeline had been shut down.

Nigeria is among the world’s largest oil producers. Nigerian oil companies say that the majority of oil spills are caused by sabotage, ﻿theft and illegal refining﻿.

Spills have left the Niger Delta highly polluted. In years past, it has endured the equivalent of the ﻿Exxon Valdez﻿ spill every year for more than 50 years, by some estimates, with the crude spewing from rusted and aging pipes, unchecked by what analysts say is ineffectual or collusive regulation, and enabled by poor maintenance and sabotage.

In 2016, local community leaders ﻿initiated a court action in London ﻿against the energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, in a case with potentially far-reaching consequences for whether companies could be sued in Britain for pollution and damages caused by their activities in other countries.

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The farming and fishing communities said they had suffered years of damage because of repeated large spills from oil pipelines in their home areas. The Court of Appeal in London ruled last year that British courts ﻿do not have jurisdiction﻿ over the claims.
The sinking of the Grande America causes a 2,200 tonnes (4,900,000 lb) oil spill in the Bay of Biscay, France.