Environment. Tunisia: “situation under control” after the sinking of an oil tanker – Le Progrès

The ship Xelo, loaded with “about 750 tons of diesel” from Egypt to Malta sank this Saturday off the southeast coast of Tunisia, about 7 km from the coast of the Gulf of Gabes. The authorities claim to be able to avoid large-scale pollution. The ship, 58 meters long and 9 meters wide and flying the flag of Equatorial Guinea, asked Friday evening to enter Tunisian waters because of bad weather conditions. While about 7 km off the coast of the Gulf of Gabes, the tanker began to take on water, according to the ministry. The water seeped into the engine room, rising up to almost two meters in height. The crew questionedThe Tunisian authorities then evacuated the crew of seven people on board the ship in distress. According to the court’s spokesperson, the crew members, made up of a Georgian captain, four Turks and two Azerbaijanis, were briefly “hospitalized for checks and are staying in a hotel”. They are being interrogated to understand the reasons for the sinking of the ship. Interviewed at midday by national television, the Minister of the Environment, Leila Chikhaoui, affirmed that the situation was “under control”. “There are minimal leaks that are not even visible to the naked eye (…) so there should not be a disaster in the Gulf of Gabes,” said Mohamed Karry, spokesman for the court of Gabes. Gabès, who opened an investigation to determine the causes of the accident. Avoiding “a marine environmental disaster” The authorities quickly activated “the national emergency plan for the prevention of marine pollution with the aim of controlling the situation and prevent the spread of pollutants,” according to the Ministry of the Environment. The Ministries of Defence, Interior, Transport and Customs are working to avoid “a marine environmental disaster in the region and to limit its repercussions”, specified the same source. The latest maritime accident concerning Tunisia dates from October 2018, when a Tunisian ro-ro ship L’Ulysse collided with a Cypriot container ship CLS Virginia 28 km off Cap Corse, France. At the time, a slick of 600 tonnes of propulsion fuel had escaped from the Cypriot container ship, which required the intervention of French and Italian ships and the European Maritime Agency to limit marine pollution.