Salvors in fourth attempt to refloat ship

A FOURTH attempt to refloat the stricken cargo ship that ran aground off Buffels Bay near Knysna was being made late last night after earlier efforts failed.

Captain Nigel Campbell, who is overseeing the salvage operation for the South African Maritime Safety Authority, said the small swell that had prevented the German-owned Kiani Satu from being refloated for the past three days remained.

It was hoped that the swell would have risen by 7pm last night, but this had not been the case, forcing salvage workers to work late into the night.

“We started at 6.30am and we had 4m swell at the tug, but that is 1 000m away. The wind was breaking up the swell where we needed it (at the ship),” Campbell said.

The operations team is considering dumping the 15 000 tons of rice the vessel is carrying.

“We do have permission to do this. We will then cut the bags of rice open on to a conveyer belt and dump it into the ocean.”

As salvage efforts continued, Parliament’s portfolio committee on agriculture, forestry and fisheries yesterday called for harsher penalties to be imposed on sea polluters in order to protect fish resources.

Referring to the oil leakage from the Kiani Satu, committee chairman Lulu Johnson said: “This not only leaves the government authorities with a burden to rescue them (ships) and clean their damage, but poses serious health risks for fishery living resources.”