Christos XXII, the salvage tug which brings bad luck
Unable to tow the Victoriaborg (*) to Saint Malo port of refuge, the salvage tug Christos XXII had yet won fame in the Channel Sea. Exactly one year ago, the Greek tug was towing a German training ship, the Emsstrom, bound to a Turkish ship-breaking yard.
The towed Emsstrom collided with Christos XXII following a wrong move of the latter off Torbay along the Devon coastline. Emsstrom took on water after the collision and sunk.
Christos XXII took on water too. The eight crewmen were evacuated and the salvage tug had to be towed and stationed in the Weymouth Bay. An oil spill was feared. The incident happened in January 2013.
Christos XXII, the salvage tug which brings bad luck
Unable to tow the Victoriaborg (*) to Saint Malo port of refuge, the salvage tug Christos XXII had yet won fame in the Channel Sea. Exactly one year ago, the Greek tug was towing a German training ship, the Emsstrom, bound to a Turkish ship-breaking yard.
The towed Emsstrom collided with Christos XXII following a wrong move of the latter off Torbay along the Devon coastline. Emsstrom took on water after the collision and sunk.
Christos XXII took on water too. The eight crewmen were evacuated and the salvage tug had to be towed and stationed in the Weymouth Bay. An oil spill was feared. The incident happened in January 2013.
Mol Comfort
The total loss of MOL Comfort and its cargo is a new kind of disaster. Thousands of containers are awash, some are in the seawater column or at the bottom. They all contain materials that are entirely incompatible with the ecosystem of the Arabian Sea. Both wrecks of the MOL Comfort are now underwater disposals of hazardous waste, common waste and oil wastes.
The exact inventory of hazardous materials has not been disclosed by the owner. The ship had previously reached four Japanese ports. At the middle of its round trip, the container ship was supposed to reach Northern Europe. Japan is an exporter of chemicals and electronic equipment; the giant container ship was transporting all classes of hazardous materials, the only unknown being radioactive material. The fallout from the fire in the front part will contaminate the marine food chains. Containers adrift endangered navigation and when they will be gradually dislocated they will release hundreds of thousands of litters more or less floating in the sea.
The Big One
MOL Comfort disaster (follow up)
Information notice N°7
The fracture of the giant container ship Mol Comfort on June 17th, 2013 is turning into total disaster.
The aft part sank on June 27th, 11: 40 am (local time).
The attempted towing of the fore part towards the Sultanate of Oman is confronting difficulties which were predictable.
