Operations to remove pollutants from the fishing vessel that ran aground in Cape St Francis commence

The process of removing pollutants from the fishing vessel that ran aground in St Francis Bay began this morning.

The fishing vessel, the ELKE M ran aground on Saturday night at approximately 22h30, 1 mile from Port St Francis. The vessel had 24 crew and they were all brought to safety after they abandoned ship.

A helicopter, dispatched from Cape Town has joined the salvage tug, Umkhuseli and support personnel on the scene. Deployment of equipment to the vessel to commence the process of removing the pollutants is a priority with the initial focus being the 35 tonnes of diesel on board.

Due to inclement weather in the area over the past two days operations could only begin today.

SAMSA will continue monitoring the process and has also activated the Incident Management Structure (IMS) which includes owners, the insurers (P&I Club), municipality officials, the NSRI, salvors, environmental management organisations and other relevant parties.

Environmental Liability Insurance