Maritime Disasters

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Australia, France to help Philippines deal with massive oil spill, Arroyo says
By JIM GOMEZ
28 August 2006

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Australia and France have pledged to help the Philippines clean up a massive oil spill from a sunken tanker, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Monday.

Arroyo thanked the United States and Japan for sending experts to help deal with the spill, which has contaminated resorts, marine reserves, seaweed farms and fishing communities on the southern coast of Guimaras island and outlying areas.

Officials will appeal for more foreign assistance, she said, adding that Australia and France have offered help. She did not elaborate on the specific aid that both countries might provide.

Solar I, carrying about 2 million liters (500,000 gallons) of bunker oil, sank off Guimaras on Aug. 11 in rough seas, then began spilling oil that has affected a 220-kilometer (137-mile) stretch of coastline.

An investigation will pinpoint criminal liability and come up with ways to prevent a recurrence, Arroyo said.

"There will be a wide-ranging investigation to find out what happened, who was responsible and what steps (are) needed to be taken to ensure this accident would never happen again," Arroyo told the Radio Mindanao Network.

Traces of oil have been carried by the currents to the shores of two towns in Iloilo province, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Guimaras, coast guard officials said.

The Guimaras provincial government has reported that more than 26,000 people -- directly and indirectly dependent on fishing -- have been affected.

Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes said the tanker has been located about 700 meters (2,296 feet) under the sea. Officials will wait for a Japanese salvage ship to arrive later this week and examine the tanker with a remote-controlled probe before deciding what to do next, he said.

If the tanker still has oil in it, the government may siphon off the remaining bunker fuel because it could break apart if lifted, Reyes said, adding that entombing the vessel under the seabed would be too costly.

"We have to do this quick because some people say it's a disaster again waiting to happen," Reyes told ABS-CBN television.

Arroyo, who visited Guimaras on Saturday, returned to the island Monday to check on the progress of a large-scale cleanup and steps taken by officials to safeguard the health of villagers living near contaminated shores and help them find other sources of income.

"We assure the affected residents that the government, together with international partners, is doing only the best to bring back the healthy state of Guimaras," she said.

Arroyo said the government will ask the conservation group World Wildlife Fund to come up with scientific analyses and solutions to protect Guimaras' marine environment.

A top executive of Petron Corp., the country's largest oil refiner and owner of the leaking fuel, told a Senate inquiry that his company has helped clean up 62 kilometers (38 miles) of Guimaras coastline by hiring more than 1,000 villagers.

Jose Jesus Laurel, Petron vice president for legal and external affairs, said the massive cleanup could be completed in 30-45 days.

The oil spill, one of the worst to hit the country, struck a region known for its marine reserves, rich fishing areas and popular beach resorts. It also exposed weaknesses in the government's ability to deal with such accidents.

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18 drown after boat sinks on Lake Volta in Ghana

ACCRA, Sept 5, 2006 (AFP) - Eighteen people drowned when their boat sank on Ghana's Lake Volta, one of the world's largest artificial lakes, police told AFP Tuesday.

A storm swept the boat onto rocks, smashing it in two, on a trip transporting traders between the towns of Salaga and Yeji on the lake, around 500 kilometres (310 miles) northwest of Accra, police spokesman George Mensah told AFP.

Rescuers saved 60 passengers and recovered 18 bodies, he said, adding that the boat had been visibly overloaded.

The director of Ghanaian maritime affairs, Peter Azuma, and port and railways minister, Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, were due to visit the scene of the accident later Tuesday.

Overloaded boats often sink on the lake, that was formed in 1965.

Ninety nine people drowned in an accident there in 2002.

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Overloaded boat sinks in eastern Congo lake, killing at least 35 people, officials say
By ANJAN SUNDARAM
5 September 2006

GOMA, Congo (AP) - A boat overloaded with passengers and freight sank in choppy waters on an eastern Congo lake, killing at least 35 people aboard, shipping officials said Tuesday.

High winds and heavy waves swamped the boat Monday carrying 90 people and their goods on Lake Kivu, sinking the boat and killing at least 35 people, said Edouard Tamba Kakozi, president of the shipping association in the eastern Congo city of Goma.

"The boat was also overloaded. Now it is at the bottom of the lake," Kakozi told The Associated Press. U.N. officials confirmed the accident, saying at least two corpses had been recovered from the waters.

Accidents are common on Congo's poorly maintained boats -- many dating back to before independence in 1960 -- that are often overloaded with people and merchandise.

Decades of war, corruption and neglect have left Congo with only a few hundred kilometers (miles) of paved roads, making the Congo River, its tributaries and other waterways lifelines for commerce in the country the size of Western Europe.

On March 19, 2005, at least 16 people drowned when an overloaded ferry sank in the Congo River near Lukolela, 450 kilometers (260 miles) north of Kinshasa.

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Ghana shipwreck death toll rises

ACCRA, Sept 6, 2006 (AFP) - Some 24 people are now known to have died when a boat sank on Ghana's lake Volta and a further 18 are still missing, regional authorities told AFP on Wednesday.

"At present 24 bodies have been recovered," said Alhaji Gariba Iddrisu, prefect of the region were the disaster happened.

Police spokesman George Mensah added that 18 more people still had not been accounted for.

The boat sank after being swept onto rocks and smashed in two during a storm on Tuesday. Initial reports spoke of 18 people drowned.

According to 44-year-old Anamua Mensah, who survived the shipwreck, the boat was overloaded with cattle, sheep and food.

"There were at least 80 of us on board plus the animals and luggage," the passenger told AFP.

The director of Ghanaian maritime affairs, Peter Azuma, and Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, the port and railways minister, were due to visit the scene of the accident on Wednesday.

Overloaded boats often sink on lake Volta, which was formed in 1965 and is one of the world's largest artificial lakes. Ninety nine people drowned in an accident there in 2002.

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Senegal remembers victims of Africa's worst sea ferry disaster

ZINGUINCHOR, Senegal, Sept 26, 2006 (AFP) - Senegal on Tuesday somberly marked the fourth anniversary of Africa's worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the Joola ferry, which claimed 1,863 lives in the Atlantic Ocean in 2002.

Senegalese Minister Defence Minister Becaye Diop led the commemorations which took place in the southern resort city of Ziguinchor in Casamance region.

The ferry, which sailed between the capital Dakar and Zinguinchor twice a week and was licensed to carry 550 people, had 1,927 passengers on board when it capsized off the coast of Gambia, a tiny sliver of a country separating Senegal into two.

Only 64 people survived the accident which claimed more lives than the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, in which 1,563 died.

"The Joola drama should prevent young people of our country from travelling in boats of fortune in the search of fortune," said Moussa Cissokho, president of an association of victims' families, referring to the increasing number of Africans who die in attempts to migrate clandestinely by boat to Europe.

Commemorations started with prayers at a large mosque and a visit to Kantene cemetery where some of the unidentified victims were buried.

Other memorial events were also planned for Gambia where some of the unidentified victims had to be buried, according to a Senegalese diplomat in Banjul.

Among those aboard were students, school children and artists from around Senegal as well as nationals from elsewhere in Africa and Europe.

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Shipping accidents increase in Baltic Sea

HELSINKI, Sept 28, 2006 (AFP) - The number of annual shipping accidents in the Baltic Sea has more than doubled since the beginning of this century, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) said Thursday.

It said there were 151 accidents in 2005 and 145 in 2004, compared to about only 60 annually during the period 2000-2003.

With 2,000 vessels including 200 tankers at sea at any one time, the Baltic has some of the heaviest maritime traffic in the world in relation to its area of 370,000 square kilometres (143,000 square miles).

"It's a worrisome trend", said HELCOM Executive Secretary Anne Christine Brusendorff.

She said one possible explanation was that the apparent increase was a result of new reporting requirements for shipping accidents established by HELCOM.

"Previously not all accidents were reported, but the new system ensures that we now get more complete data," she said. "But it's clear that the rapidly growing maritime traffic in the region could also have contributed to this increase in the number of accidents."

The HELCOM study showed that collisions, groundings, technical failures and fires or explosions were the most common types of accidents recorded in 2005. The share of collisions as a cause of accidents had increased from 27 percent in 2004 to 38 percent in 2005.

Cargo vessels, tankers, passenger ferries, bulk carriers and container ships in that order of importance were the main types of vessels involved in accidents. The main reason for accidents was human error, followed by technical factors.

The study said most of the Baltic accidents did not cause notable pollution, but even one large-scale accident would seriously threaten the marine environment.

Over the 2000-2005 period, an average of eight to nine percent of all reported accidents had resulted in pollution. In 2005, 13 accidents had also resulted in small-scale pollution, compared to 10 similar cases in the previous year.

HELCOM, governing body of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

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Children of Senegal's ferry disaster to become war orphans

DAKAR, Senegal, Nov 8, 2006 (AFP) - Senegal's national assembly has adopted a bill that classifies children of victims of Africa's worst maritime disaster as war orphans, a parliament source said.

The bill voted Tuesday night will provide for compensation for children of victims of the Joola ferry which capsized off the coast of Gambia, a tiny sliver of a country separating Senegal into two, claiming 1,863 lives in the Atlantic Ocean in 2002.

The law which comes into effect after its promulgation by the head of state will apply to children who were minors at the time of the accident in 2002.

"It is a very good thing. Let's hope that it is applied very quickly," said Issrissa Diallow, head of the group coordinating families of the ferry accident.

According to Boubacar Ba, spokesman of another association of the victims families, about 1,900 children will benefit from the new law.

The ferry, which sailed between the capital Dakar and the southern city of Zinguinchor twice a week and was licensed to carry 550 people, had 1,927 passengers on board when it sank.

Only 64 people survived the accident, which claimed more lives than the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, when 1,563 died.

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Japan files papers with prosecutors on ship accidents
1 December 2006

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's coast guard has filed formal complaints against the captains of three ships that ran aground in rough seas last month, the coast guard said Friday.

The complaints were made in the form of letters and other paperwork sent to public prosecutors.

Mascarenhas Melroy Joseph Rosa, the 49-year old Indian captain of the Giant Step, is accused of professional negligence and obstructing traffic in relation to an accident in early October that left eight crew dead and two missing, the coast guard said in a statement.

After catching fire near the northeastern Japanese port of Kashima, the Panamanian-registered 98,587-ton ship ran aground in stormy weather. The coast guard rescued 16 of the ship's crew.

The coast guard also alleges professional negligence by Trinidad Felino Jr. Sabado, the Filipino captain of the Panamanian-registered Ellida Ace, and Dong Hong Bo, the Chinese captain of the Chinese-registered Ocean Victory, the statement said.

The 85,350-ton Ellida Ace and 88,853-ton Ocean Victory both ran aground near Kashima on the same day in late October amid heavy winds and high waves.

The coast guard rescued all crew from both cargo vessels. There were no injuries.

Kashima is 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

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Wind probably caused sinking of Brazilian ferry; one passenger presumed dead
12 December 2006

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Heavy wind may have caused a ferry with 132 people aboard to capsize and sink near Brazil's northeastern coast, resulting in the likely death of one passenger, an official Tuesday.

Though no cause has been pinpointed, wind was probably a factor, said Capt. Alexandre de Souza, a spokesman for the Port of Salvador.

He also said a search for the only person not found in the water after the accident was suspended Tuesday because the man is now presumed dead. Authorities will now search beaches in the area for the body of the 61-year-old Brazilian man.

The "Bahia de Todos os Santos" catamaran ferry was traveling into a stiff headwind when it flipped over en route to Salvador from the resort island of Morro de Sao Paulo, about 1,600 kilometers (990 miles) north of the city of Sao Paulo, Souza said.

Passing boats picked up the passengers and crew members after the accident Sunday, but the Brazilian man wasn't found. Authorities searched for him for 48 hours, then suspended the effort because de Souza said the man could not have survived longer in the water.

Authorities ruled out problems with the boat, saying it was seaworthy and carrying all the safety equipment needed for passengers.

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Estonian commission: no military equipment aboard passenger ferry in 1994 disaster
19 December 2006

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) - An Estonian commission investigating a 1994 ferry disaster in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday urged Sweden to share its information about the disaster that killed 852 people.

The parliamentary commission also said Estonian authorities only found out in 2005 that the Estonia passenger ferry had carried military equipment to Sweden just days before it sank on Sept. 28, 1994.

Only 137 people survived when the ship went down in a Baltic Sea storm en route from Tallinn to Stockholm.

A official commission of Estonian, Finnish and Swedish experts in 1997 blamed faulty bow door locks, the intensity of the storm and human error for the sinking.

That report has since been widely questioned and calls for a new investigation were rekindled in 2005 when the Swedish military acknowledged they had used the ferry to transport abandoned military equipment from the Baltics in the weeks before the sinking.

The military said there was no military shipment on board the Estonia the day of the tragedy and that no weapons or explosives were ever transported on the ship.

In Tuesday's report, the Estonian parliamentary commission said that Sweden carried out the military transports without the knowledge of Estonian authorities.

The report urged Swedish authorities to reveal all their sources of information on the incident, which over the past 12 years has spawned numerous rumors and conspiracy theories.

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Final death toll in Mali boat collision is 21

BAMAKO, Dec 22, 2006 (AFP) - Police Friday gave a final death toll of 21 in a collision of two boats on the Niger river earlier this week near Gao in northern Mali.

The accident happened overnight Monday to Tuesday, and police initially found 14 bodies, but said more were feared dead.

"We have stopped looking. There are a total of 21 dead, of whom six are young girls and one a young boy, all drowned," a Gao police official told AFP on Friday.

Seven others were injured, he said.

The accident occured at Barisadji, about 35 kilometres (25 miles) from Gao, when one of the boats crossed over from the river's right side to the left, ramming another boat headed the other way, police said.

"It was imprudence which caused the accident," the police officer said.

Both vessels were pinasses, which are barges bigger than the dug-outs frequently used on African waterways, and carried several dozen passengers and more than 30 tonnes of merchandise, local officials said.

Many people in northern Mali use the river and its tributaries to get around.

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Survivors Rescued From Indonesia Ferry
By IRWAN FIRDAUS
1 January 2007

REMBANG, Indonesia (AP) - Rescue ships collected scores of bloated bodies Monday from seas close to where a ferry sank in the Java Sea, but search teams also spotted survivors on life rafts and dropped food and water to them, officials said.

Weeping relatives camped out at ports and a local hospital, desperate for news of the some 400 still missing from the ferry when it sank during a violent storm minutes before midnight Friday.

So far, at least 191 people have been found alive, either packed into lifeboats, clinging on to debris or on beaches after swimming ashore, Transport Minister Hatta Radjasa told reporters. Dozens of bodies have either been spotted or collected.

Radjasa said the search for survivors would continue for at least a week.

Since the ferry went down, officials, hampered by poor communication and the fact that ships are bringing survivors to shore at several ports, have given differing numbers of people saved and bodies collected. The ferry had a capacity of 850 people, but the manifest indicated 638 passengers.

"I am tired of crying," said Sipan, who goes by a single name and who had been staying at Rembang hospital waiting for news of his son. "Dead or alive, I will accept his destiny. It is up to God. All I can do is keep waiting."

Search official Capt. Hadi Siswanto said that rescue boats were picking up bodies Monday that had so far been left in the sea because officials were concentrating their search for survivors. Workers at Rembang Hospital constructed a makeshift morgue.

Rescue chief Eko Prayitno said a helicopter had spotted an unspecified number of people still alive in the sea. The crew dropped food and water to them and boats would try and pick them later, he said.

The Senopati Nusantara sank quickly after being pounded by heavy waves for more than 10 hours on a journey from the Indonesian section of Borneo island to the country's main island of Java.

"I thought I was going to die there and then," said Syahrul, a 21-year-old palm plantation worker who was on the third floor of the ship when it suddenly veered to the left and began sinking.

"I heard people screaming from the second floor, 'Open the door! Help!' Hundreds must have died down there," said Syahrul, who was recovering in a hospital Monday.

Officials say bad weather caused the accident.

Indonesia's tropical waters are generally between 72 degrees Fahrenheit and 84 degrees Fahrenheit. People have been known to survive days at sea, but only with a buoyancy aid.

Survivors told harrowing stories of the struggle to stay alive in the hours that followed the ferry's sinking.

Waluyo, 50, who goes by a single name, recalled holding onto a large tire and seeing two of his children lose their grip and drown.

"For 17 hours we held on, sometimes being turned over in the swell, but one by one the people fell off, including my two children," he said from a hospital Sunday. "I could not do anything apart from pray."

Indonesia has been wracked by weeks of seasonal rains and high winds that have caused several deadly floods, landslides and maritime accidents. A cargo ship carrying 11 people sunk off Bali island on Sunday, but by Monday all passengers were accounted for, Antara reported.

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Italians Investigate Deadly Ship Crash
17 January 2007

ROME (AP) - Investigators will need weeks to understand the cause of this week's deadly collision between a container ship and a commuter hydrofoil near the entrance to the Sicilian port of Messina, Italy's transportation minister said Wednesday.

Alessandro Bianchi said in a report to the lower house of parliament that the Coast Guard was tracing the movements of both ships, plus those of a third vessel that was in the area at the time but did not appear to be directly involved in the collision.

Four crew members were killed and about 100 people were injured, including six seriously, in the collision Monday, Bianchi said. The hydrofoil, packed with workers and university students, was approaching Messina after crossing the Strait of Messina from Reggio Calabria.

Prosecutors have placed the captains of the container ship and the third vessel, a ferry, under investigation, as a matter of routine, Italian news agencies Apcom and ANSA reported. The captain of the hydrofoil was killed in the crash.

Bianchi said the hydrofoil was built in 1999 and was last inspected in March. British shipping company Borchard Lines Ltd. said on its Web site that the 6,700-ton container ship was built in 2004 and registered in Antigua and Barbuda.

Hydrofoils are fast-moving, motorized craft that skim over the sea's surface thanks to flat or curved finlike devices attached by struts to the hull which lift up the vessel.

Calabria, the "toe" of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, is linked to the island of Sicily by air and sea routes.

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Ferry survivors need a 'miracle', says Indonesian vice president

JAKARTA, Jan 14, 2007 (AFP) - Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has admitted there is practically no hope of finding any more survivors from a ferry which sank in high seas two weeks ago.

"Except for a miracle, it will be difficult to seek and find survivors after the KMP Senopati Nusantara sank 15 days ago," Kalla was quoted by the Kompas newspaper's website.

Survivors were still being found up to nine days after the Senopati Nusantara, carrying 600 people, capsized on December 29 en route from Kumai on Borneo island to Semarang.

Search and rescue efforts, hampered by bad weather, found about 250 survivors and 23 bodies. Eastern Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Moechlas Sidik was also quoted by Kompas as saying that 373 people remained missing.

Although the ferry is known to have sunk in an area off the northern Java districts of Rembang and Jepara, search efforts have so far been unable to locate the wreck where many passengers may have been trapped.

Preliminary investigations show weather conditions were to blame for the accident, transport safety officials have said.

The vessel was carrying 542 passengers and 57 crew. It was licensed to carry 850.

Ferries are a crucial link between the archipelago nation's 17,000 islands and frequently carry more people than officially acknowledged.

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Crew rescued from stricken ship





Twenty-six crew have been rescued from a damaged British container ship in the English Channel 50 miles (80km) off the Lizard in Cornwall.
The crew of the MSC Napoli abandoned ship after it got into difficulties. No-one suffered any major injuries.

The 62,000-tonne vessel took in water through a hole in its side as it made its way through the Channel.

Two helicopters from RNAS Culdrose airlifted all the crew in the French co-ordinated rescue.

Falmouth Coastguard received a distress call from the Napoli at about 1030 GMT after a 1m by 0.5m (3ft by 1ft 6in) hole in its starboard side started letting in water.

The crew of 275m (900ft) long ship, owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company, then abandoned ship for a lifeboat.


The rescued crewmembers were taken back to RNAS Culdrose
Despite storm force winds, the Royal Navy aircraft, from 771 Search and Rescue Squadron, were able to hover above the crew's lifeboat and perform the rescue in what were described by the rescuers as "pretty horrific" conditions.

Weather on scene was south-westerly severe gale force nine (more than 50mph), with 8m to 9m (26ft to 30ft) swells.

The first Culdrose helicopter took about 45 minutes to airlift 13 of the crew before heading back to Cornwall.

The second aircraft brought back the remainder.

One pilot, Capt Damian May, said his aircraft was nearly having to surf the waves.

He said: "Once we come alongside the lifeboat, the waves and the swell were up to 50ft, which effectively meant we were going up and down 50ft in the dips of the swell and the top of the waves while we were trying to maintain station on the lifeboat."

'Dangerous' cargo

The mixed nationality crew includes two young British cadets, as well as crew members from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Turkey, India and the Philippines.

The Napoli is carrying about 2,400 containers, although its capacity is more than 4,400.


The European Maritime and Safety Agency said the vessel was listed as carrying "dangerous cargo", but coastguards said a small proportion of the containers were believed to contain insecticides and pesticides.

The ship is now in a stable position 45 miles (72km) south east of the Lizard and a salvage contract has been agreed.

Robin Middleton, leading the coastguard salvage response unit, said: "The emergency towing vessel Anglian Princess and a French tug are on scene.

"A French salvage team is being transferred onto the Napoli by helicopter and will assess the stability and integrity of the vessel to decide if the vessel can be towed.


Coastguards hope to tow the Napoli to port
"The current plan is to tow the vessel to a port and discharge the cargo ashore."

Although the ship was holed in its starboard side, it is listing to port. Falmouth coastguards said that may mean she will not sink.

As well as the hole on the vessel's side, the ship also suffered a flooded engine.

All vessels in the area are being warned that they should avoid her.

The 16-year-old vessel is registered to London, and was last inspected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in May 2005 when officials said it met safety standards

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6274625.stm
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Lloydslist reports that there are two holes, one on each side so there is a risk she could split in to...

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EU urged to adopt maritime safety package after accidents

BRUSSELS, Jan 26, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission called on member states to hastily adopt its proposals to beef up maritime safety rules after recent accidents off the English and Italian coasts.

Last week a 62,000-tonne cargo ship, the MSC Napoli, ran aground off the south coast of England and four people died and scores were injured in a collision between the Italian island of Sicily and the mainland.

"These two accidents highlight the urgent need to step up Europe's maritime safety measures" said EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot.

In November 2005, Barrot proposed a maritime safety package that focused firstly on better preventing accidents and then dealing with them when they do happen.

The proposals are the third wave of measures since maritime safety ebbed high on the EU agenda in the wake of the December 1999 sinking of the Erika tanker, which caused a massive oil spill along France's Atlantic coast.

One of the proposals of the most recent package is to draw up a list of refuges where distressed vessels can seek cover before running into deeper trouble out at sea and causing more environmental damage.

The measure is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the Prestige oil tanker disaster. The tanker broke in two in 2002 off Spain's northwestern coast, spilling thousands of tonnes of fuel into the seas after authorities denied it safe harbour.

Under the proposal, ships in distress would be given refuge after the situation is fully assessed and following a decision by an independent authority, free of pressure from local officials, jittery about shipwrecks on their shores.

The commission praised British authorities' handling of the MSC Napoli, noting that their action was based on "independent decisions taken following an objective analysis of the situation, making it possible to avoid a major disaster."

It said that the collision in the Messina Strait illustrated the need to adopt proposals on the compensation of injured maritime passengers, which is another part of the package.

The first two maritime safety packages increased in-port controls and banned single-hulled tankers which transport heavy fuels in EU ports and near European coasts.

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Beach cleaners fear more oil pollution in southern Spain

ALGECIRAS, Spain, Feb 1, 2007 (AFP) - Scores of beach cleaners who have removed some 260 tons of oil-laden detritus from a southern Spanish beach fear there is more to come, local authorities said Thursday.

The oil fuel has been leaking out of a stricken refrigerator ship, the Sierra Nava, which ran aground Monday in high winds in the bay of Algesiras.

The Andalusian regional government's environment department said that teams of more than 100 volunteers and salvage workers had so far removed 260 tons of fuel mixed with sand, earth and sea water, and experts feared that another 170 tons of diesel were still in the ship's tanks.

More than a kilometre (around a mile) of beach has been blackened by fuel seeping from the vessel after two of its four fuel tanks cracked open.

Salvage workers rescued two crew members from the Panamanian-registered vessel before it became stuck in around 50 metres (120 feet) of water.

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Criminal charges filed in boating wreck that killed 20 elderly tourists
By MICHAEL HILL
5 February 2007

QUEENSBURY, New York (AP) - The captain of a boat that capsized in 2005 in upstate New York, killing 20 elderly tourists, and the cruise line owner were indicted Monday on criminal misdemeanor charges.

A grand jury charged both Shoreline Cruises and Capt. Richard Paris with failing to have enough crew members aboard the tour boat when it flipped over on a lake on Oct. 2, 2005, sending its passengers into the chilly water. Paris was the only crew member aboard; state navigation law required at least two for the 47 passengers on board that day.

The prosecutor said there was insufficient evidence to support more serious charges.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded last summer that the boat had been modified in a way that made it less stable and should have been allowed to carry only 14 passengers. Investigators believe the vessel was rocked by the wake from a passing boat or boats.

District Attorney Kate Hogan said the indictments would "give the families of the victims the peace of mind that this case was reviewed and no rock was left unturned."

Nine lawsuits have been filed in federal court by survivors and victims' families against the boat operator, tour organizers and others.

There was no answer at Paris' home, and his lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Neither Shoreline nor the lawyer representing the company returned calls.

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Associated Press Writer Jeff Karoub in Detroit contributed to this report.

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Experts: fuel leak from Norwegian cruise ship in Antarctica caused no environmental damage
7 February 2007

OSLO, Norway (AP) - Diesel fuel that leaked from a Norwegian cruise ship that ran aground in the Antarctic last week has caused no damage to the fragile environment, the Norwegian Polar Institute said Wednesday.

The 123-meter (404-foot) M/S Nordkapp ran aground and damaged its hull near Deception Island, which is part of the Antarctic archipelago's South Shetland Islands on Feb. 1. It pulled off the rocks under its own power, but the 294 passengers were transferred to a sister ship.

According to the institute, which is in charge of Norwegian environmental regulations in the Antarctic, some 500-750 liters (130-200 gallons) of light diesel spilled into the ocean when the Nordkapp's crew tried to transfer the fuel from a damaged tank to one that was intact.

In a news release, the institute said researchers and crews of other cruise ships helped monitor the area and gather samples, which show no damage.

"It is very good that the grounding does not appear to have had any impact on that highly vulnerable environment," said Birgit Njaastad, of the institute's environmental section. Light diesel usually breaks up easily in water, the researchers said.

The Nordkapp had been anchored at a Chilean scientific station in Maxwell Bay, off King George's Island, where British divers temporarily repaired damage to its hull.

In a separate statement, Norwegian Coastal Voyage, which operates the ship, said the Nordkapp would depart Wednesday with an escort ship to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for permanent repairs and a maritime hearing on the accident.

The passengers from Nordkapp were transferred to its sister ship, M/S Nordnorge, and brought to Ushuaia, Argentina late last week.

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At least 60 feared dead in shipwreck off Cameroon

YAOUNDE, Feb 5, 2007 (AFP) - At least 60 people were feared dead Monday after a passenger ferry operating between the west African states of Cameroon and Nigeria was shipwrecked, a private radio station in Cameroon reported.

An unknown number of passengers were rescued in the accident off the coast of Tiko in southwest Cameroon, 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the economic capital Douala and 250 kilometres west of the capital Yaounde, Satellite FM said.

The station said that likely causes for the tragedy included unfavourable weather conditions, the poor state of the vessel and overloading.

Authorities have opened an enquiry.

Shipping accidents off the Cameroonian coast are frequent. In March 2006 more than 130 illegal immigrants heading from Nigeria for Gabon were drowned when their ship sank off Kribi, south of Douala.