Tunisia: a merchant ship carrying 750 tons of diesel sinks off Gabes

Gulf of Gabès, off Tunisia.

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In Tunisia, a cargo ship sank on the morning of this Saturday, April 16, off the town of Gabès in the center of the country.

The authorities now fear an oil spill.

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with our correspondent in Tunis,

Flying the flag of Equatorial Guinea, transiting through Egypt and bound for Malta, the ship

had been in difficulty since Friday evening in the Mediterranean.

Faced with very difficult weather conditions, the freighter had obtained authorization to approach the Tunisian coast.

While he was 7 kilometers from the Gulf of Gabès, in the south-east of the country, the tanker began to take on water.

This infiltrated the engine room amounting to nearly two meters in height, according to a press release from the Tunisian Ministry of the Environment.

The emergency was then to rescue the crew.

The authorities' concerns now focus on the ship's cargo: no less than 750 tonnes of diesel now threaten to spill into Tunisian waters.

Faced with a possible oil spill, the Tunisian Ministry of the Environment declares that it is doing everything possible to control the situation.

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• Tunisia

• Environment