UK:A 90,000-tonne sea tanker, which was registered as carrying hazardous cargo, was refloated and tugged away after running aground in the Dover Strait, the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has said.
Three tug boats took an hour to pull the vessel off a sandbank and were towing it to an anchorage three miles off the coast of Deal, in Kent, a spokesman said."Surveyors from the MCA and investigators from the Marine Accident Investigation branch will go on board once it is anchored and carry out their investigations."
The ship is expected to stay at its anchorage for most of tomorrow while the teams work out how the vessel, which was carrying more than 42,700 tonnes of cargo, ran aground.
The 90,465-tonne German-registered vessel LT Cortesia had 27 people on board. It ran into difficulties on the Varne Bank towards the middle of the English Channel at 5am yesterday.
None of the crew members was injured and there have been no pollution leaks, the MCA said.
MCA spokeswoman Rosie Tapping said all vessels entering the Dover Strait are obliged to report to the Dover Coastguard if they are carrying any hazardous materials, even so much as a single container.