The vessel that ran into the sunken Tricolorin the English Channel this morning has been pulled to safety.
The Nicola
, a 3,000-tonne ship registered in the Dutch Antilles, struck the Norwegian vessel at 1.40am local time. Three tugs later moved into position and pulled her off the top of the wreck shortly after 8 a.m.
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The
Tricolorsank off the French port of Dunkirk on Saturday.
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She was anchored nearby while the crew awaited instructions from the ship's German owners, said the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency.A French warship sent from Cherbourg, was last night alongside the Tricolorto alert other ships to the wreck while a single buoy marked the spot.
Bad weather prevented other buoys being placed around the wreck, which lies in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
The Tricolor, which was carrying 2,862 BMWs, Volvos and Saabs, sank off the French port of Dunkirk on Saturday.
It collided with the Bahamas-registered container ship Karibain thick fog. Her crew of 24 scrambled into lifeboats as the 50,000-tonne, 200-metre ship went down within 90 minutes.
The Karibawas towed to the Belgian port of Antwerp with its bow severely damaged. A team of eight and a vessel from salvage company Smit Tak are about 20 miles east of the Kent coast to check the Tricolorfor oil leaks.But high winds and strong sea currents have prevented divers going down to the wreck to assess damage.