Bad weather prevents salvage

2004-10-18 08:51

Johannesburg - Rough seas and bad weather on Monday were preventing the salvage of the BBC China which ran aground at Grosvenor Point on the Wild Coast at the weekend.

The Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) said the ship had sent out a Mayday signal at 20:45pm on Saturday to say it had hit a sandbank about 150m off the shore along Grosvenor Point near Mbotyi on the Wild Coast.

MRCC assistant mission co-ordinator Mlungisi Ngubeni said the Pentow Surveyor and coast guard vessel the Kuswag 1 remained in attendance and had been monitoring the situation since Sunday afternoon.

"The sea is still too rough for them to attempt anything. But they are assessing the possibility of a salvage weather permitting," said Ngubeni.

He said a strong current was pushing the ship causing it to list.

"The strong current is the only problem at the moment. It's causing the ship to list or tilt."

Ngubeni stressed that the BBC China was not sinking.

He added that there were no signs that the ship was breaking up.

The Pentow Surveyor and the Kuswag 1 were also monitoring the 1846 tons of bunker fuel aboard.

"The fuel tanks are intact but there is oil leaking from the bilges but it is very minimal."

He said it was hoped that the remaining oil could be transferred to other vessels during the salvage operation.

All 16 crew members were airlifted off the ship during a six-hour rescue operation in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Helicopters battled 40-knot winds and three-metre swells to rescue the seamen.

The 122m mini-bulk carrier, with two onboard cranes, was said to be carrying 2800 tons of "steel structures".

The BBC China was sailing from Port of Spain in the Caribbean to Durban and from there to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, the MRCC said.

- SAPA