There are fears 250 tonnes of fuel oil could leak into the water at Foynes on the Shannon estuary after a ship sank in the west Limerick harbour yesterday.
The Clipper Cheyenne, a 104-metre, French-owned ship, was being loaded with a dredging barge at 10.45 a.m. yesterday when she capsized. An emergency plan was activated following the incident and the Shannon Estuary Anti-Pollution Team was deployed.
A small quantity of oil was visible in the water around the vessel and the Department of the Marine is assessing whether more might leak out.
The Department of the Marine is to carry out an investigation and has sent a pollution expert to assess the situation.
Along with heavy fuel oil, the ship is believed to contain 30 tonnes of gas oil and 11 tonnes of lubricating oil. Tug boats were on stand-by yesterday evening while experts examined the vessel at low tide and considered the best way of refloating it.
A boom was laid around the tilted vessel to minimise the spread of any pollutants. The harbour authorities believe the ship, a 5,000-tonne vessel used for transporting heavy-lift equipment, suffered a technical fault when its ballast tanks were being filled yesterday leading to a critical imbalance in weight distribution. None of the 15-member crew was injured but one person was taken to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for observation after he complained of a heart condition.
The ship is a semi-submersible vessel, meaning that its deck can be lowered below sea-level for the easy loading of other floating craft. The dredger being taken on board was en route for Cadiz after being used by a Bord Gáis contractor for excavating a trench across the estuary for the national gas grid.
Mr John Dundon, a director of the port authority and a representative of Mullock & Sons, the shipping agents for the vessel, said he was confident that, weather permitting, the vessel would be refloated quickly. It was possible, he said, that a technical problem had developed when the ballast tanks were taking in water.