Sand wall built to protect Flemish coast from oil spills

The 9,000-tonne Flinterstar out of Barendrecht, the Netherlands, partially sank after it collided at 4.15 yesterday morning with the Marshall Islands-registered gas tanker Al-Oriaq. The accident occurred  some eight kilometres off the coast. The crew of the ship, which was on its way to Bilbao, were picked up, and the ship settled on a sandbank, the water reaching to the upper deck (pictured).

According to the cargo company Flinter, the ship was carrying steel and crane parts. The tanker suffered slight damage and was brought to Zeebrugge.

Despite the absence of dangerous substances, the Flinterstar was leaking oil, and two oil slicks have been detected, one 3 x 2 kilometres and one three kilometres long and 100 metres wide. Dutch marine authorities said the spills were not heading for land but moving in a north-easterly direction in the North Sea.

As a precaution, Belgium’s civil defence force moved its oil protection material into place. The Zwin nature reserve, which lies on the border between Flanders and Zeeland, the Netherlands, was closed off, and civil defence began constructing a sand barrier to stop the oil spills, should either of them reverse direction.

The construction of the berm, a wall of sand 33m long and one metre high, required four cranes and eight million tonnes of sand and had to be ready by high tide at 8.00 this morning.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. The enquiry will be carried out by the same team that investigated the sinking of the fishing vessel Morgenster in January.

Photo courtesy defence department