John Culatto
THE ship that caused the latest oil spill that stained the whole southwestern coast of Gibraltar, the Gas Venus, has left local waters after putting down a £1.5 million cash bond.
Captain of the Port John Ghio confirmed the cash covered ‘the costs of the oil spill response and cleanup operations’ in a government statement.
Cleaners are still focusing their efforts on Rosia Bay, using an excavator to scoop up rocks that are stained to clean them off-site.
The cleanup operations ‘continue to progress well’ the government stated.
Department of the Environment workers combined with Brightside employees to wipe oil off rocks with animal life on them to the best of their abilities.
Young Nautilus Project volunteers also helped in the cleanup for the third time since the Gas Venus overflowed during bunkering on August 1.
They spent four hours cleaning the historic Rosia Bay site, where ships brought Admiral Nelson’s body after the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.
They spoke of their frustration at seeing animals struggling in the oil as they tried to wash it off in a GBC interview.
“Because the water would wash the oil back onto the rocks, it is just annoying to get it all off for it to be sucked back on again,” young Mikey Rugeroni told interviewer Jonathan Scott.
Ghio recently revealed that that the refuelling of ships in the Bay of Gibraltar occurs at a rate of 200,000 litres per hour.
This would mean that the 1,000 to 2,000 litres of oil that overflowed out of the Gas Venus tank could only have taken about half a minute.
But he told the national broadcaster how Gibraltar’s has some of strictest bunkering regulations in all of Europe and there was not much more the port could do to improve the safety of the operations.
Royal Gibraltar Police detectives are still investigating the accident and could press charges in the near future against the captain of the ship.
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