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Gibraltar said on Friday that a damaged and partially sunken bulk carrier continued to seep some heavy fuel off its coast.
The government said there was a small leak on Friday despite containment measures on Thursday to stop the oil slick.
In a statement, the government said there were reports of a small number of birds covered in oil, but it was “taking all possible measures, both on land and at sea, to minimise the environmental impact of the spill.”
After extracting most of the diesel on board, the crew has now started extracting about 180 tonnes of sulphur fuel, it said.
Meanwhile, the mayor of the southern Spanish town of La Linea de la Concepcion said some oil had reached a nearby beach, but clarified that it was oil leaking when the ship collided with another ship on Monday, not Thursday. of oil slick.
Mayor Juan Franco said the arrival of lube was worrying, “but it’s not a tragedy”.
The environmental impact or the volume of the oil spill was unclear on Thursday.
The affected beaches near La Linea have been closed, as have three bathing areas in Gibraltar.
Gibraltar said the ship was loaded with 250 tonnes of diesel fuel, with 183 tonnes of fuel oil and 27 tonnes of lubricating oil still in the tanks.
The fuel oil could be more environmentally damaging and more difficult to extract, raising concerns in Spain and Gibraltar about marine life and tourism in the region.
The boat was ordered to run aground in the shoal after it collided with another boat in the Gulf of Gibraltar on Monday.
The normally busy port of Gibraltar remains closed, but the neighbouring Spanish port of Algeciras is fully operational.
The 584-foot, Tuvalu-registered OS 35 carried rebar cargo. The LNG carrier it collided with suffered little damage. No one was injured in the collision.
The captain of the damaged vessel has been detained for allegedly failing to comply with Gibraltar port orders after the collision.
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