Fire Breaks Out In Oil Tanker Off German's Coast
Date
10/12/2024 12:09:29 AM
(MENAFN- AzerNews)
A thick black smoke has covered the sky due to a heavy fire that
broke out in the engine of an oil tanker near the coasts of
Germany.
A seven-member crew has been evacuated and taken ashore after
the accident in the engine room of an oil tanker off the coast of
Germany, however, efforts continue to put out the blaze and prevent
an oil spill on the Baltic Sea coast, according to reports from the
German Sea Rescue Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung
Schiffbrüchiger – DGzRS), which is responsible for search and
rescue services on the North and Baltic Seas, according to offshore
energy.
Moreover, German authorities report that a notification about a
fire breaking out on a tanker in the Bay of Mecklenburg between
Kühlungsborn and Warnemünde in the Baltic Sea was received by radio
shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday, October 11, 2024. Black smoke was
visible far out to the coast even though the vessel was about 2.5
nautical miles (around 4.5 kilometers) from the coast.
Based on the information available to Havariekommando, Germany's
Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME), the tanker, named
Annika, carries approximately 640 tons of oil. The Maritime Rescue
Coordination Centre (MRCC) Bremen, operated by the German Society
for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People (DGzRS), took extensive
measures to save the crew and extinguish the fire.
The Wilma Sikorski sea rescue boat, stationed at the DGzRS
station Kühlungsborn, rescued all seven crew members from the
73-meter-long German oil and chemical tanker northeast of
Kühlungsborn within an hour of the initial fire notification.
Afterward, they were taken to a hospital as a precaution since
several had minor injuries. The sea area and the airspace within a
3-nautical mile radius around the stricken vessel were closed.
As the Annika tanker was still burning, the Arkona multi-purpose
ship from the Waterways and Shipping Administration at the DGzRS
station in Warnemünde, and the Baltic deep-sea salvage tug
chartered by the Federal Ministry of Transport embarked on
firefighting measures to stop the fire from getting out of control
and causing a potential oil spill or explosion.
In the meantime, several firefighting teams were on their way to
the ship by helicopter as the emergency command took over the
operation. Firefighting teams from Rostock and Kiel on board the
Arkona multi-purpose ship that was moored alongside the Annika
tanker looked into the possibility of boarding the tanker while
additional emergency services, including those from the Lübeck fire
department, were en route to the ship.
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