Gibraltar authorities confirm oil leak resulting from collision

Gibraltar authorities confirmed today the unexpected leak of low-sulfur fuel oil from a major collision of the “Os 35” cargo ship and liquefied natural gas tanker “ADAM LNG”, which occurred earlier this week.

The mayor of “La Línea” in Algeciras confirmed that the leaks were detected this Friday morning in the bay of the archipelago, which means they crossed the sea barrier in large quantities.

The leaks were monitored by drones, although divers identified two holes as a source and are working on containing it.

“Although this is a significant leak, the consistency of the low-sulfur fuel oil is lighter than in other accidents in the bay, meaning it is easier to dissipate and clean up if any is detected on our beaches,” explained the Gibraltar government in a press release.

The cargo ship, carrying 215 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, 250 tonnes of diesel fuel and 27 tonnes of lubricating oil, ran aground in the bay of Gibraltar to prevent it from sinking. All 30 people on board, including 24 crew members and 6 surveyors, were evacuated.

“The salvage team onboard have identified the source of this leak to two tank vents from the vessel’s bunker tanks. All vents had previously been sealed, but the seal of two vents became loose on the crumpling of the vessel,” clarified the Gibraltar Port Authority in a statement.

The port authority added that a notice has been issued to seafarers in the 200-meter exclusion zone around OS 35. Some 400 meters of outriggers were deployed on site to be deployed around the vessel in the event of an oil spill.

Divers at the scene were able to restore the seal and Gibraltar Port Authority halted the release of oil from the vent. Authorities collected free-floating oil that had spilled when the dam was deployed to absorb it, according to the same source.

The Gibraltar government said that the cargo ship was “not broken apart as such, but has crumpled” and that the priority concern was to unload the low-sulfur heavy fuel oil it was carrying, followed by diesel and lubricants.

It “has been no way to remove the fuels in question from the vessel any sooner in a manner that was not a risk to the environment,” added the government.