A three day strenuous operation carried out to prevent an oil tanker from running aground has been completed successfully.
What happened?
The operation was flagged off on May 4, after a tow rope linking a tugboat and the tanker pulled loose and became entangled in the tugboat’s propellers off Cape St Francis.
The tanker ‘MT Order’ was being towed to Maputo to be scrapped and had no crew members onboard the vessel.
Vessel’s stranded without power
The boats were located about 27 km offshore when they were stranded without power and had drifted to about 7 km offshore by May 5.
An alarm was raised by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, which alerted the Transnet National Ports Authority and placed three National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) stations – St Francis Bay, Jeffreys Bay and Port Elizabeth was put on standby.
Tanker towed to Sea
The operation to tow the tanker back to Sea was successful and by midday, it was about 150 km off Algoa Bay, being towed by the SA Amandla.
NSRI St Francis Bay station commander Sarah Smith said, “The tow rope came undone and the 14-strong tugboat crew had tried everything to detach the boat from the tanker and reattach the rope. However, without a tender boat to recover their towline from the water and with the rope fouled around one motor [propeller], the MT Order was at risk of running aground. Rope fouled around the motor of the AHT Carrier [tugboat] had been loosened but one motor was still not operational”.
Smith further added, “It was reported that salvage divers had been activated from Cape Town but it would take quite some time to reach the scene”.
Tanker stopped from drifting
On May 6, a decision was made to attach ropes to the MT Order and the tugboat, enabling the tug with its one motor to stop the tanker from drifting to shore.
The government-managed tug ‘SA Amandla’ arrived in the afternoon and towed the tanker further out to sea while salvage divers went to the tug to remove the rope.
Port St Francis harbour master Johan Barnard said, “Emergency personnel, disaster management and salvage experts had been on standby during the operation”.
Samsa deputy chief operations officer Captain Nigel Campbell said, “The MT Order was a decommissioned vessel and had been on its way to be scrapped when its ropes snapped. However, no cargoes or bunkers were found onboard the vessel”.
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Source: Herald Live
