The European Maritime Safety Agency EMSA mobilised to assist with oil recovery from the Agia Zoni II tanker.
On 9 September around 2:45am local time, the double-bottomed oil tanker Agia Zoni II sank while at anchorage west of the port of Piraeus, Greece. The vessel had on board 2 200 tonnes of fuel oil and 370 tonnes of marine gas oil. Consequently, an oil spill was reported in the area and the east coast of Salamina Island polluted.
On 13 September, the Greek authorities requested the mobilisation of the Aktea OSRV, an oil spill response vessel contracted by EMSA from the Greek company, Environmental Protection Engineering (EPE), and operating in the Aegean Sea.
Within a few hours, during the night, the ship ceased its commercial activities and prepared for pollution response operations. The vessel has been on site since 11am local time, 13 September, and is recovering the oil leaking out of the wreck under the command of the Greek authorities.
In order to assess the extent of the spill, the Greek authorities also requested additional satellite images from EMSA.
“This assistance to the Greek authorities clearly demonstrates the added advantage Member States can have by requesting additional response assets which are available across the European coastline and can be mobilised quickly. It also highlights the responsiveness of EMSA’s satellite image service”, said EMSA Executive Director, Markku Mylly.
The Aktea OSRV is an oil tanker built in 1989 and contracted by EMSA to cover the Aegean Sea area. Transporting oil is the main commercial activity of the vessel. The Aktea OSRV has a storage capacity for recovered oil of 3 000m3, a heating capacity of 3 000kW and a pumping capacity of 1 000m3/h.
The on board pollution response arrangement includes two rigid sweeping arms (15m each), two single point inflation booms (250m each), one high capacity skimmer and slick detection radar. Additional equipment includes: a gas detector, mini lab and flashpoint tester
EMSA Press release
