Tanker Collides With Fishing Vessel in Bay of Biscay

The Odfjell vessel M/T BOW EAGLE has suffered damage to her bow and one cargo tank as a result of contact with a French fishing trawler, the Cistude early Monday morning. There was a seven-man crew aboard the trawler. One fisherman was killed, three remain missing. The three fishermen that were rescued were taken to a hospital in Brest.

The Odfjell-operated tanker initially reported that it had come into contact with an unidentified object approximately 120 kilometers west of Ile de Sein off the Brittany coast. The tanker was en route to Rotterdam from Brazil when the incident occurred. 200 mt of Ethyl Acetate has been lost to the sea. Ethyl Acetate is classed as marine pollution category D (the category with the lowest pollution). No personnel onboard the vessel were been injured and the vessel is fully operational. As BOW EAGLE is fully operational and there is no imminent threat of further pollution, the French Authorities have allowed the vessel to proceed towards discharge port in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Odfjell is co-operating with the French authorities to find out more about the incident and a French investigation team are onboard BOW EAGLE to evaluate the situation. As an extra precaution a tug is following the vessel to observe that no further pollution occurs.


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