An incident of marine pollution occurred around noon today at Gate E4 of the Port of Piraeus, while a Cypriot-flagged passenger high-speed vessel was being refueled, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

Specifically, while the passenger-high-speed vessel was being refueled by a tanker truck, a metal coupling on the fuel line came loose, causing fuel to spray onto the ship’s port side ramp. Passengers who were boarding the speedboat at that moment were also splashed by the fuel.

The spill caused pollution covering an area of approximately 30 square meters on the pier, while scattered, self-dissolving iridescent oil slicks covering a total area of approximately 100 square meters were detected in the ship’s mooring area.

Members of the ship’s crew and personnel from a private pollution response company were immediately mobilized and proceeded with cleanup operations onshore. At the same time, two patrol boats from the Hellenic Coast Guard —the Hellenic Coast Guard—and three private vessels carried out mechanical agitation in the area, with the Coast Guard reporting that the results of the operations were satisfactory.

The First Port Department of Tzelepi, part of the Central Port Authority of Piraeus, which is conducting the preliminary investigation into the circumstances of the incident, the driver of the tanker truck and the chief engineer of the passenger high-speed vessel were arrested.

Source: Protothema.gr