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Experts were fighting last night to avert an ecological disaster as a stricken cargo ship began leaking oil off the coast of Devon.
As may as 200 containers - three of which are said to contain dangerous substances such as battery acid - have also been washed into
the sea.
Twenty-six crew had to be rescued in savage weather conditions on Friday after the Napoli was holed and the engine room flooded 65km southeast of Lizard Point, Cornwall.
In one of the biggest operations of recent times for 771 Search and Rescue Squadron, Royal Navy helicopter crews winched the sailors to safety in 12m waves and winds of up to 100 km/h.
The 62,000-tonne ship, carrying 2400 containers - 157 of which are said to contain hazardous chemicals such as perfume, ethanol, pesticides and toxic liquids - and thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel, was being towed to Portland when severe structural failure forced the salvage teams to deliberately run it aground near Sidmouth.
Last night anti-pollution teams were working alongside salvage workers and the RSPCA as it was reported the ship was leaking oil.
Already there have been reports of spills along the Devon coastline, contaminated sea birds and more than 20 containers broken up on the beach.
"We are very concerned about the effects of any pollution from the ship on our World Heritage coastline, and are doing everything we can to support the Coastguard Agency in a fast and efficient cleanup of the debris," said Devon Environment spokeswoman Margaret Rogers.
Yesterday Robin Middleton, the Secretary of State's representative for Maritime, Salvage and Intervention, said: "The salvage plan is concerned with the oils, which we deem to be the greater threat. They include diesel and 3500 tonnes of heavy fuel oil."
While the bulk of the oil is cargo contained within the vessel, he explained, there was a leak from the Napoli's own fractured tanks or overflow reserves in the engine space - a supply of around 200 tonnes.
Middleton said the decision to tow the vessel towards the English coastline was taken to avoid any chance of it sinking in deeper water, which would have been "a greater threat to the environment".
Salvage adviser Jim Chubb confirmed that three of the lost containers held dangerous substances believed to be perfume, battery acid and car airbag gas release bottles.
Yesterday - as crowds gathered on the coastline to take a look at the heavily listing ship - police closed off Branscombe Beach and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency warned people to stay away from containers.
An eight-person salvage team boarded the Napoli and divers were flow in to join them.
Anti-pollution experts hoped to start pumping the oil out soon. "The plan is to stabilise the vessel, then to remove the fuel, then to remove the containers and then to remove the vessel itself," Middleton said.
Julian Wardlaw, team leader for the Environment Agency, said: "We have an extremely sensitive bit of coastline, we are dealing with a World Heritage Site and we are working to make sure that damage is minimised."
In 2001 the same ship, then named the Normandie, ran onto a coral reef in the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Sumatra, heavily loaded and at full speed. It remained stuck for several weeks before being towed away for repairs that included welding more than 3000 tonnes of metal onto the hull. But officials said the 16-year-old Napoli, which is registered in London, had met safety standards when it was last inspected by the Coastguard Agency in May 2005.
Devon County Council leader Brian Greenslade said: "Our emergency planning team are fully geared-up for dealing with situations of this kind and, though we hope they will never happen, have rigorous plans in place and practise them regularly.
"Currently we are dealing with several containers which have been washed ashore, and we are working with experts in locating the containers and making sure they are safe. We are also working with environmental pollution teams."
- INDEPENDENT
