“Environmental disaster is feared”

The ship was carrying 750,000 tons of diesel and sank off the coast of Gabes. The Tunisian authorities, the minister assured, immediately activated an emergency plan in order to avert an environmental disaster for the entire region. Chikhaoui then explained that the “installation of anti-pollution barriers around the sinking area, with the planned pumping of fuel oil and inspection by divers of the state of the hull”. “There has been no oil spill into the sea and every effort has been made to avoid it,” the affairs officer of the Gabes governorate told local radio Mosaique FM.

National emergency plan –

The incident was announced by the Tunis Ministry of the Environment on its Facebook page, which also announced that it had activated the national emergency plan in coordination with all the ministries concerned.

Authority at work –

The oil tanker sank about 7 kilometers off the coast of the Gulf of Gabes and local authorities are working to avert an environmental disaster. The oil tanker Xelo, flying the flag of Equatorial Guinea, coming from Egypt and bound for Malta, had asked to be allowed to enter Tunisian territorial waters due to bad weather. The crew initially turned to the Tunisian authorities to obtain permission to disembark but the sea water had already flooded the ship’s engine room to a height of two meters and therefore the entire crew was then evacuated.

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