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ARCHIVED - Captain of crashed ship arrested in connection with Gibraltar oil leak

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The skipper of the beached OS 35 has been detained for refusing to follow Port instructions after crash

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Captain of crashed ship arrested in connection with Gibraltar oil leak

A fuel leak from the crashed bulk carrier OS 35 is behind an oil spill in Gibraltar, and now the captain of the ship has been arrested by Royal Gibraltar Police and taken in for questioning.

The Chief Minister of the Rock, Fabian Picardo, said that the captain had “a lot of questions” to answer, after refusing to obey the instructions of Gibraltar Port authorities following the collision with the LNG tanker.

Picardo alluded to the attitude of the person in charge of the OS 35 after the collision with the Adam LNG last Monday night: he denied that his vessel had suffered any damage and opted to continue sailing out to sea. Once in the Bay of Gibraltar, he reported that he “could not continue”, because the vessel had “notable” water leaks.

“He did not stop, did not follow instructions and said there was no damage,” Picardo claimed.

It was not until that moment, with the danger of sinking becoming a real threat “that would have resulted, almost certainly, in the spillage of fuel oil and the risk of death of its crew”, that the vessel agreed to comply with the authorities’ instructions.

At that point, Gibraltar considered that “the only viable solution” was to run it aground in shallow waters, in the area where it is now. For his part, the captain got off the vessel on Wednesday afternoon along with the rest of the crew and inspectors after the hull breach.

A spokesman for the Gibraltar Police said that the detainee is “cooperating with detectives from the Royal Gibraltar Police Crime and Protective Services Division”, which is investigating the incident.

Despite the best efforts to contain the oil spill and stem fresh leaks from the OS 35’s fuel tanks, oil has already broken through the first protective perimeter and is spreading.

Image: HM Government of Gibraltar

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