The stranded tanker Orient Nadeshiko, sailing under a Panamanian flag and carrying hazardous cargo, has been freed hours after it ran aground on the Elbe River. The 124-metre-long vessel with 9,000 tonnes of chemicals, stuck in the river mouth ten kilometres east of Cuxhaven, was pulled into the open water by several tugs, the German news agency DPA reports, citing a spokesman for the accident command.
According to their plan, the experts had waited for the rising tide at midday. The initial examination detected no damage to the ship, carrying preservatives, hydraulic fluids, solvents and fuel ingredients, or a leakage of chemicals. None of the crew members was injured in the incident. However, it is still unclear what caused the accident. The tanker is set to be towed to Cuxhaven.
READ MORE: Pink Death: Chemicals Used to Make Ham, Bacon Boost Cancer Risks, Experts Warn
Less than three weeks ago another cargo ship lost 270 containers, including three with chemicals, during a storm in the North Sea off the German coast. Some of the containers and lost goods washed up on Dutch islands, scattered along kilometres of local beaches. This fuelled earlier demands by politicians and environmental activists to tighten regulations for transporting such cargo by sea.
Lower Saxony’s environment minister Olaf Lies has demanded an investigation pointing out that there had always been problems with locating lost goods, and suggested that the containers with dangerous cargo should not be stored near the edges or tops of ships.
The Greens earlier demanded that carrying chemicals by sea be outlawed, and limitations, for European ports in particular, should be introduced.
