John Culatto
AS this week’s storm passed Friday, port workers got to work redeploying the floating oil barriers around the OS 35 shipwreck off Gibraltar’s coast.
Captain of the Port John Ghio said the operation to continue protecting the sea from further oil leaks would be finished by Saturday morning.
It followed a week when howling 40km/h winds and two metre waves smashed into the now fully severed two pieces of the bulk carrier’s hull stranded 700 metres from Gibraltar’s iconic Catalan Bay.
Port authorities did not reported that any more oil was shed during the latest storm.
Workers removed the barriers, called booms, from around the OS 35 wreck last weekend as the storm moved in.
Once they are in place, wreck removers Koole will continue to remove the 3,000 tonnes of cargo left inside the stricken hold of the ship.
The Captain of the Port said this would progress throughout the next week.
Koole barges and tugs have sailed in from South America and the Netherlands to clear out the bulk carrier.
They will then proceed to break up the remains of the ship and remove it from the seabed.
Gibraltar’s Department of the Environment is continuing to check out the shoreline for any signs of further oil spills.
Clean-up crews are juts finishing up removing tarballs from Sandy Bay and the south of Little Bay.
Environmental officers have not spotted any more pollution from the ship at any other beaches.
The remains of the ship have caused a number of oil spills as it continues to break up following a collision in the Bay of Gibraltar last summer.
Salvage crews have until May 30 to fully remove the ship from its current location.
READ MORE:
- New storm Sunday threatens further oil spills from stricken bulk carrier shipwreck off Gibraltar coast
- DISASTER: More oil spills onto Gibraltar beaches after shipwreck breaks up further in latest storm
- Pumping of oil from Gibraltar shipwreck continues after busy weekend cleaning up spill after-effects
