Authorities in France responded to the grounding of the 90 metre cargo ship RHODANUS on the island of Corsica early Sunday 13th October morning after she ran aground in a pristine marine reserve in the Strait of Bonaficio off the French Mediterranean island of Corsica without oil spill according to the maritime police.
She was transporting 2,650 tonnes of steel coils loaded from Taranto, Italy and ran into trouble in the Mouths of Bonifacio nature reserve in the early morning hours after missing an opening in the strait, the authority said in a statement.
The captain “did not turn in time and headed straight for the coast despite repeated calls” for nearly an hour from traffic controllers in Corsica and nearby Sardinia, it said. The ship got lodged in sand without tilting, and does not appear to have shed any oil, according to the statement. But anti-pollution measures are being deployed as a precaution.
The reserve, stretching over 80,000 hectares, is the largest in mainland France, a scuba divers’ paradise with several small islands in the strait separating French Corsica from Italian Sardinia.
Maritime police have boarded the ship, and a marine intervention team has departed from Toulon on southern France to inspect the damage.
The authorities have prohibited any ships or other nautical activities in a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) radius of the stranded ship. In fact at the time of reporting the 2008 built tug PERSEVERO is in location awaiting orders for salvage.
All images are taken at Valletta last 4th July 2019. She was last at Valletta, Malta on Saturday 5th October 2019.
Photos by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
Published – Tuesday 15th October 2019
