Efforts will begin on Saturday in Solomon Islands to refloat a wrecked ship at the centre of an environmental disaster.

Photo: The Australian High Commission Solomon Islands

Since early February, bulk carrier, Solomon Trader, has been wedged on a reef off Rennell Island, where it has spilled an estimated 100 tonnes of oil.

The spill happened near a protected marine area and poisoned local water supplies and fishing grounds, sparking an international outcry.

More than three months on, the Solomon Islands Disaster Management Office said the vessel will be refloated and towed from the reef.

Its director, Loti Yates, said the process, which is being led by a salvager contracted by the shipowner's insurer, will take around three days.

"It is a huge and very, very difficult operation," he said.

Mr Yates added that cleanup efforts which began in March are ongoing, with oil still coating the shoreline of the nearby and once pristine Kangava Bay.

He added that all oil onboard the ship had been removed but based on ship records there was an unknown amount missing.

"Maybe they evaporated, maybe they just sailed away or sunk into the bottom of the ocean. Not sure yet."

Mr Yates said investigations by the Solomon Islands government into the disaster had been obstructed by a missing data drive taken from the ship by its owner.

He said requests for the data - which is too big to transfer online - to be sent physically had gone unanswered for the past three weeks.

"We are sort of frustrated but we are still hoping that it will arrive." </s> The ship at the centre of an environmental disaster near World-Heritage listed waters in the Solomon Islands was refloated Saturday after being stranded on a coral reef for more than three months.

The MV Solomon Trader ran aground on February 5 while loading bauxite at Rennell Island, about 240 kilometres (149 miles) south of the capital Honiara.

The 225-metre (740-foot) ship was carrying more than 700 tonnes of heavy fuel and leaked a huge amount of oil into the sea, sparking an international effort to contain the spill.

"They have been trying to refloat the vessel since Thursday but because of low tide they have not been able to, until today", the chairman of the Solomons National Disaster Council, Melchior Mataki, told AFP.

An oil slick more than six kilometres long has spread along the shoreline, destroying the livelihoods of islanders who rely on waters in the ecologically delicate region.

Rennell Island is the largest raised coral atoll in the world and includes a UNESCO World Heritage site which extends kilometres out to sea.

Authorities have said the site was not affected by the spill, although Mataki said a detailed environmental assessment will be undertaken now that the vessel is out of the way.

"There is a preliminary report but the full report will be made known once assessments and investigation findings are compiled properly", he said, adding the government would likely seek compensation for environmental damage.

The Australian government had sent salvage experts to assist the response and vowed to help the Solomons make sure those responsible for the spill are held to account.

The Hong Kong-registered ship was chartered by Indonesian-based Bintan Mining and was loaded with almost 11,000 tonnes of bauxite at the time of the incident. </s> JAKARTA
• Indonesia has declared a state of emergency around a port on Borneo island, officials said, after a large oil spill and fire killed four people at the weekend.

Disaster mitigation officials were able to control the blaze in the port city of Balikpapan but were still working to contain the spill, which started last Saturday and spread over an area of around 12 sq km.

"We have warned the public not to carry out activities that could spark fires," Mr Suryanto, head of the city's environmental agency, said yesterday.

Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan, is a major mining and energy hub and home to one of the few oil refineries in the country, run by state energy firm Pertamina.

The Semayang Port Authority is working with Pertamina and the private PT Chevron Indonesia to clean up the spill.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry's law enforcement director-general Rasio Ridho Sani said that a recovery team had deployed oil spill containment booms, which are temporary floating barriers used to contain an oil spill, as well as sprayed chemicals on the oil spots to make recovery easier.

"Our focus now is to mitigate the impact of the oil spill. Since Saturday, our team as well as Pertamina and the Balikpapan Environment and Sanitation Agency have worked together to minimise the impact."

Mr Rasio said the agency had taken samples to determine the impact and source of the spill.

"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," he added.

Pertamina said it was doing its own investigations and that its underwater pipeline in the area did not have any leaks.

The city has distributed masks to local residents after some 1,200 people living in the Penajam sub-district, Penajam Paser Utara regency, complained of nausea and breathing problems after Saturday's incident. </s> 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> Karim Sahib, AFP | An Emirati man looks on at the port of Fujairah in the Gulf Emirate, on May 13, 2019.

Two oil tankers were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman and the crews have been evacuated, shipping firms and industry sources said on Thursday, a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck.

The Bahrain-based US Navy Fifth Fleet said it was assisting the tankers after receiving distress calls following "reported attacks". The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, part of the Royal Navy, said it was investigating.

Details of the incident were not immediately clear, but one operator said it suspected its ship had been hit by a torpedo. Another shipping firm said its vessel was on fire in the Gulf of Oman.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported that Iran’s navy had rescued 44 crew members from the tankers, and had transferred them to the port of Jask.

Oil prices surged by 4 percent after the report that has stoked tensions in the region that have already been heightened by attacks last month on Gulf oil assets amid a dispute between Iran and the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme.

The Gulf of Oman lies at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.

There was no immediate confirmation from authorities in Oman or the United Arab Emirates, in whose territorial waters four tankers were hit last month. An investigation said limpet mines were used. US and Saudi officials blamed Iran for the May attack, a charge Tehran has denied.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said the attacks on oil assets in the Gulf posed a risk to global oil supplies and regional security.

On Thursday Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said tanker Kokuka Courageous was damaged in a "suspected attack" that breached the hull above the water line while on passage from Saudi Arabia to Singapore.

"The ship is safely afloat," it said in a statement.

Taiwan's CPC said tanker Front Altair, carrying 75,000 tonnes of naptha, was "suspected of being hit by a torpedo" around 0400 GMT. Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data showed the Front Altair, an Aframax vessel owned by Norway's Frontline, had loaded naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, and was in waters between Oman and Iran, carrying its cargo from Ruwais in the UAE to aiwan.

Frontline said its vessel was on fire in the Gulf of Oman.

The sources said crews from both vessels, which they had said had been struck in international waters, had been safely evacuated.

One shipping broker said there had been an explosion "suspected from an outside attack" that may have involved a magnetic mine on the Kokuka.

"All crew safely abandoned the vessel and were picked up by Vessel Coastal Ace. Kokuka Courageous is adrift without any crew on board,” the source said.

Another source said the Front Altair reported a fire caused by a "surface attack" and that the crew had been picked up by nearby vessel Hyundai Dubai. </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> There are fears of an environmental disaster in the East China Sea as a tanker continues to leak oil two days after colliding with a cargo ship. Chinese officials have told state media the vessel is in danger of exploding and sinking.

Rescuers attempting to reach the site were being beaten back by toxic clouds, the transportation ministry has said. The crew, 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, remain missing despite international rescue efforts. The extent of the spill and environmental hazard are still unclear. The vessel was still ablaze on Monday morning.

The tanker had been carrying an ultra-light form of oil known as condensate which in the case of a spill can be more dangerous for the environment than regular crude. “Condensate is more likely to evaporate and mix in with the water,” John Driscoll of JTD Energy Services told the BBC. “It also can be colour- and odourless – so it is a lot harder to detect, contain and clean up.”

Though Panama-registered, the tanker Sanchi belongs to an Iranian company. The Sanchi was carrying 136,000 tonnes of Iranian oil when the vessel collided with a Chinese cargo ship on Saturday night, 165 nautical miles east of Shanghai.

The 21-strong crew of the Chinese ship were rescued. China has sent several ships to carry out search-and-rescue operations while South Korea helped with a coast guard ship and a helicopter. The US Navy had also sent a military aircraft to help with the rescue efforts. </s> At least two people died in a fire as Indonesian authorities tried to cleanup an oil spill off Borneo island Saturday, an official said.

The blaze was sparked as workers tried to clear the spill in waters near Balikpapan City by burning it.

Two people believed to be fishermen — were caught in the fire and died, a spokesman of the local search and rescue agency said.

“The fire was quite big, about two kilometres high. It can be seen from Balikpapan city and the smell was all over the place,” said Octavianto, a senior official of East Borneo search and rescue agency, who like many Indonesians go by one name.

Authorities have managed to put out the fire but there was still an oil spill in the waters.

It was not known how much oil was spilled or where it came from.

A boat carrying coal was temporarily stuck near the fire, Octavianto told AFP, but the search and rescue teams successfully evacuated all 20 crew on board.

Indonesia relies heavily on boats to ferry people and goods around its vast archipelago of about 17,000 islands.

Boat accidents are common, but oil spill cleanup accidents are rare.

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This post was syndicated from The Guardian Nigeria Newspaper – Nigeria and World News. Click here to read the full text on the original website. </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
Efforts begin in Solomon Islands to refloat a ship after an oil spill in what the government says will be a "very difficult operation."