Fuel ship sinks off Tunisia, threatens marine life

Navy rescues crew; authorities activate ‘national emergency plan’ to prevent pollution from oil spill

Tunisian authorities intensified efforts on Saturday to avoid an environmental disaster after a merchant fuel ship carrying one thousand tons of fuel sank off the coast of Gabes on Friday.

The Tunisian Navy had rescued all seven crew members from the ship, which was heading from Equatorial Guinea to Malta, and sent a distress call seven miles away from southern city of Gabes, the sources added.

The cause of the incident was bad weather, the Environment Ministry said, adding that water had seeped into the ship, reaching a height of two metres.

The crew of the Xelo vessel had issued a distress call on Friday evening and sought shelter in Tunisian waters from bad weather before going down in the Gulf of Gabes in the morning, the authorities said.

Environment Minister Leila Chikhaoui said on Saturday that “the situation is under control” in an interview aired on state television.

“There are minimal leaks, which are not even visible to the naked eye and fortunately the oil is evaporating, so there should not be a disaster in the Gulf of Gabes,” said Mohamed Karray, spokesman for a court in Gabes.

The tanker is 58 m long and 9 m wide, according to ship monitoring website vesseltracker.com.