Stranded Freighter Update
Legislators held a meeting today and announced plans to remove 9 containers of hazardous chemicals from a stranded freighter that is breaking up on the north coast of Taiwan. The Ministry of Transportation said the containers are secured to the ship with little chance of falling into the sea, and will be removed next week. The containers are secured in the front half of the ship, which is stable. The back half of the ship is tilting dangerously to seaward.
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Improving weather conditions allowed a crew to resume pumping the remaining oil out of the ship yesterday, Sunday March 27. The EPA reported that the ship’s owner set up a platform alongside the ship and began pumping at 4:45pm. The operation is expected to take about 2 days, weather permitting. Today, Monday March 28, the weather is fine. Drone footage of the site showed only a little oil was leaking, and a major ecological disaster appears to be averted.
On shore today 400 people are employed cleaning up oil that spilled when the ship broke in half last Friday.
The Ministry of Transportation Harbor Bureau said a total of 7 containers have fallen off the ship of which two have drifted offshore and are unaccounted for. Divers will be sent to examine the hull today and an underwater search will be made for the missing containers. The remaining containers on board have been fitted with light buoys and AIS beacons as a safety measure so they can be seen and tracked if they go overboard.
Dean Fredericks of FreediverHD flew a drone over the wreck to get this footage:
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