BRITAIN: A ship carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable gas oil last night struck the submerged car transporter the Tricolor off the French coast, Dover coastguards said.
A spokesman said French coastguards were co-ordinating an emergency operation to rescue the crew of the Vicky, which was stuck on top of the Tricolor after the collision in the Channel early yesterday evening.
The Vicky is the second vessel to strike the submerged Tricolor, which was carrying 2,862 BMWs, Volvos and Saabs, worth up to €50 million when it sank off the French port of Dunkirk two weeks ago.
Dover coastguard said it was not yet known if there was any imminent danger of the highly flammable oil on board the Vicky igniting, or whether the ship was sinking.
The spokesman said: "If the Vicky is holed, then the French are going to have to get the crew off quickly and then deal with any pollution issue later."
The Norwegian Tricolor sank after colliding with the Bahamas-registered container ship Kariba in thick fog.
Her crew of 24 scrambled into lifeboats as the 50,000-tonne, 200-metre ship went down within 90 minutes.
The wreck of the Tricolor was later hit by the Nicola, a 3,000-tonne ship registered in the Dutch Antilles.
A Dover coastguard spokesman said later last night that the Turkish-registered Vicky struck the Tricolor at 7.30 p.m. yesterday and became stuck fast.
He said it was not yet known how badly damaged the hull was, or whether the vessel was leaking its load of kerosene. But there was a smell of fuel in the air.
The 243-metre-long, 43,000- tonne tanker was sailing from Antwerp in Belgium to New York when it struck the ship.
Three tug boats and a warship from the French navy were last night leading the operation to rescue the 24 crew from the deck of the ship, which is listing 10 degrees.
The Vicky, built in 1981, is a single-hulled, double-bottomed vessel - meaning it has an extra layer of metal around the base of the hull.
The spokesman said: "The ship went on to the wreck at 7.30 p.m. and became stuck fast.
"There is a smell of fuel in the air but we don't know how badly damaged it is at this stage."
Mr Mark Clark, from Dover coastguard, told BBC News 24: "The next high water is just after 10 p.m. If there is any chance of the vessel getting off, it will have to be in the next hour."
He said it was unclear where the smell of fuel was coming from. "It could be something from the wreck underneath."
Mr Clark said there was a moderate to rough sea and moderate visibility.
He said the master of the ship has told rescue teams that he does not consider the crew to be at risk.
"It just emphasises how busy this stretch of water is," he said. "There's 400 to 500 ship movements through it per day."
French coastguards said it was not believed that any kerosene had spilt from the Vicky into the Channel.
A spokesman said that there were no injuries reported among the 24 crew. At least three boats, one from England, were involved in the rescue operation.
After sinking with its cargo of luxury cars in the Channel last month, the Tricolor has posed a danger for sailors in the world's busiest shipping lanes.
On December 15th, a cargo vessel, the NDS Provider came within 500 metres of the wreck. The near-miss came after a passing aircraft, surveying the wreck, sent a warning to the crew.
On December 16th, despite warning beacons and messages from coastguards, the Dutch Antilles-registered cargo ship, the Nicola, collided with the Tricolor while travelling to La Coruna in northern Spain. None of its seven crew members were injured in the collision which happened shortly after midnight and the 95-metre ship was able to limp into port in Hamburg, Germany, after being hauled free from the top of the Tricolor by tugs.
Meanwhile, bad weather has hampered the Tricolor's salvage operation. Experts said high winds and strong sea currents prevented divers from going down to the wreck to assess the damage.
- (PA)