Three people from the ten-member crew of the tanker stranded near Ahtopol were successfully evacuated on Sunday. This happened in an action by the Maritime Administration and the Navy. In the early afternoon, food, water and communication equipment were delivered on board by air.
At the request of the shipowner, a new operation will be organized this morning to evacuate four more sailors. Again, by his decision, three people will remain on board, Nova TV reports.
A meeting with the Turkish ambassador to Bulgaria is scheduled to take place today to clarify all the circumstances surrounding the abandonment of the tanker in Bulgaria's territorial waters, the Ministry of Transport reports.
At this moment, the massive 276-meter tanker “Kairos“ is anchored securely off the rocky coast and there is no danger to the population.
Maritime law is special because evacuation only occurs at the request of the crew, no one from our country has the right to force them off the board, nor do they want to leave. Three will remain on the ship, because in this way our country will not have any claims against the ownership of the ship.
The Commander of the Navy, Rear Admiral Kiril Mihaylov, explained that the operation was extremely complicated because the weather conditions were very severe, and the ship was constantly moving up and down.
“Both the delivery of products and the evacuation of the crew were carried out from a hover. One of the onboard rescuers had to be lowered onto the deck of the ship and he had to lead and act together with the crew to remove the provisions. Then, one by one, the crew members were evacuated”, he commented.
“This is the only way to evacuate. We are ready on Monday morning to send the helicopter with the crew and the rescuer to pick up the remaining members who need to be evacuated”, added Mihaylov.
The seven sailors are from China and one each from Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. The shipowner is in contact with our authorities.
The Ministry of Environment and Waters has started monitoring the water. The Basin Directorate has already taken samples of the sea water between Sozopol and Rezovo to see if there are any spills. At the moment, the authorities say that there is no such danger, but local fishermen are worried.
“I have been a fisherman all my life. At the moment, the situation is such that the danger of an ecological disaster has not passed at all. We doubt the success of the towing of the ship. This is one of the large classes of tankers, it can hardly be pulled out. It is empty, it is raised high and becomes like a sail. The tugs must be very powerful”, believes fisherman Dimitar Lyubenov.
“The ship has no lights, there is thunder on it, there was a fire. It is not known what condition the technical equipment is in”, he added.