MADRID (AP) — Gibraltar authorities said Tuesday that a cargo ship has been beached to prevent it from sinking after it collided with a liquefied natural gas carrier in the bay of Gibraltar.
A government spokesman said that the situation was under control and the ship was not in danger. He said there had been no environmental impact so far. The government said booms had been placed in the area to contain any possible fuel seepage.
No one was injured in the collision. The crew of the cargo ship — the 178-meter (584-foot), Tuvalu-registered OS 35 — remains on board.
The spokesman, who was not authorized to be named, said they had no reports of damage to the LNG carrier.
He said the cargo vessel was resting on the seabed in 17 meters (56 feet) of water close to the coast with no damage to the hull. The ship was carrying steel bars.
The Gibraltar government set they had set up a 200-meter exclusion zone around the stricken ship but that Gibraltar port had reopened and was functioning as normal.
Gibraltar, a British territory located on southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, is a busy shipping port.
