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A third oil slick was discovered in the Grande America sinking area on Friday March 15, 2019. (© French Navy)
The depollution operations started on Friday March 15, 2019 after the sinking of the Grande America. In a new situation, the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic indicates that the meteorological conditions in the area of the sinking, “currently very degraded” made “very difficult the aerial observations made this morning by a Falcon 50 maritime surveillance aircraft from the French Navy ”.
After discovering two oil slicks, a new slick was discovered.
An oil slick 4.5 km long and 500 meters wide, compact in appearance, was observed near the sinking area, about 175 nautical miles (about 325 km) from the coast. French. This observation seems to confirm that there is still a release of heavy fuel oil from the wreck.
Two drifting containers
However, the two previous slicks could not be observed again this Friday, “due to very rough seas”.
However, two containers were located adrift, one 17 nautical miles (30 km) northeast of the wreck, the other 49 nautical (90 km) east of the wreck. .
The Atlantic Maritime Prefecture issued urgent notices to mariners to inform them of the presence of these containers.
The shipowner, in conjunction with the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic, is currently planning their recovery.