Team shifts ship, leak sealed
SEVENdays after the grounding of the Kiani Satu near Knysna, the ship has resisted four attempts to lift her clear, but there is good news for the 300-plus people working on the salvage operation.
Yesterday morning at high tide the salvors swung the ship around so that its bow is pointing out to sea, and the movementappeared to seal the crack in the starboard fuel tank so that it is no longer leaking.
Captain Nigel Campbell, overseeing operations for the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa), said last night: “The strong wind blowing yesterday didn’t help our salvaging efforts, but it did help break up the oil. We flew out along the coast and did not find a single drop of oil.
“The area around the ship is also clean and the beach is about 50 percent better today,
“People should however not get too excited as there are still 140 tons of oil left in the tank.”
About 15 tons of bunker fuel had washed into the sea, but the rest is being pumped into another tank onboard.
Efforts to refloat the ship were expected to continue late into the night. Unfavourable weather has caused the failure of three attempts to shift the 168-metre German-owned ship over the past two days.
If the crew deems it necessary, they have been given the go-ahead to dump 15 000 tons of the rice cargo into the sea to lighten the load.
Campbell said the manpower involved in the operation – from salvage to clean-up – was massive, and included professionals from sea captains to police officers.
“We have 332 people working at this stage and another 60 on standby. Some of these guys have been putting in 20-hour days.”