A cargo ship about 90 meters long carrying steel coils, with seven people on board, ran aground in the night from Saturday to Sunday in the Bonifacio Nature Reserve (South Corsica), announced the maritime prefecture.

Sunday around three o'clock in the morning, the ship Rhodanus, flying the flag Antigua and Barbuda (Antilles), was to enter the mouths of Bonifacio. The 90-meter-long vessel with seven people on board "did not transfer on time and continued on the coast despite repeated calls from the Cross-Detailing Operational Center (Cross) in Corsica for nearly 50 years. minutes, "said the prefecture of Corse-du-Sud in a statement.

"The building, placed on the bottom, has no lodging (remains right, ed) and no pollution is found," said the prefecture.

Anti-pollution means deployed

However, "as a precautionary principle", means of pollution control were deployed: "the intervention tug, assistance and rescue Abeille Flanders and the building support, assistance and depollution Jason have set sail from Toulon ", says the prefecture. Italian means are also requested.

#Rhodanus Helicopter by a Marine Cayman of the evaluation and intervention team and overflight of the Falcon 50 of the @NationalMarine: no pollution detected, thorough investigation in progress. #CROSSMED
Photos: National Marine pic.twitter.com/alcUbPmVVp

- Mediterranean Prémar (@Premarmed) October 13, 2019

"The ship is located in the middle of the archipelagoes of the natural reserve of the mouths of Bonifacio in a zone of reinforced protection very sensitive from the environmental point of view", underlined the director of the reserve, Jean-Michel Culioli who was on the spot .

2,650 tons of steel coils

"He should never have been there, we remain very vigilant," insisted the head of the largest nature reserve in metropolitan France. Located between Corsica and Sardinia, the mouths of Bonifacio extend over 80,000 hectares. Built in 1998, the ship carries "2,650 tons of steel coils", according to Mr. Culioli.

Maritime gendarmes were aboard the ship in the morning and a Falcon aircraft from the Navy also joined the scene. Finally, an evaluation and intervention team (EEI) of the Navy took off from Toulon to make the first estimates on the spot.

In addition, a decree prohibiting navigation and water activities within 1,000 meters of the vessel was taken. The situation is monitored in coordination with the Italian authorities and land authorities (including the prefecture of Corse-du-Sud).