Oil tanker caught in fire off Port-la-Nouvelle: Captain Kriti towed by Abeille Méditerranée to Marseille

Le pétrolier victime d’un incendie dimanche a été remorqué par l’Abeille Méditerranée. Préfecture maritime

Specialized firefighters from Sète were dispatched aboard the Captain Kriti on Sunday, January 26, to put out the flames on the tanker.

The 184-meter Liberian-flagged oil tanker, Captain Kriti, arrived safely on Wednesday, January 29. The ship, which caught fire in the open sea on Sunday, January 26 off the coast of Port-la-Nouvelle, reached the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille (GPMM) around 2 p.m.

While it was carrying no less than 25,000 tons of diesel and its own heavy fuel oil, a fire started in the engine room around 4 a.m.

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Arrived in Marseille on Wednesday, January 29

Around fifty personnel from Aude, Marseille and Sète were quickly deployed, including the team specialising in ship fires (IBNB, intervention on board ships and boats) from Sète. There were no injuries among the crew of around twenty Filipino sailors, nor among the rescuers. The disaster was contained in the morning. But the cargo ship remained under surveillance throughout its towing to Marseille.

The operations began on Tuesday, January 28 at around 3 p.m. by the intervention, assistance and rescue tug (RIAS) Abeille Méditerranée.

Unloading the cargo

“After transiting during the night from Port-La-Nouvelle under the surveillance of the Mediterranean Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center (Cross Med), the semaphores of the French Navy and a team from the Marseille Fire Brigade Battalion (BMPM) who remained on board, the convoy arrived this Wednesday, January 29 at 2 p.m. at the GPMM, in the Gulf of Fos-sur-Mer”, the maritime prefecture stated in a press release. The next step now consists of unloading the cargo (hydrocarbons, Editor's note) from the ship, in conjunction with the port services and authorities.” A delicate operation.

“The safety and protection of people and goods is a priority for the State services. This is why the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône, in conjunction with the port authority, will ensure the coordination of all the services concerned with the reception of the ship at the quay and will take, in his competence, all the useful operational and legal measures throughout the stopover”, the prefectural authority still assures.

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