Sunken Swedish cargo ship leaking oil

Helsinki, 2 November (HELCOM) – A Swedish cargo ship which sank in a storm off the east coast of Oland Island on Wednesday is leaking oil, the Swedish Coast Guard told HELCOM.

The extent of the spill is not clear at this moment because of bad weather at the site of the accident, but the Swedish Coast Guard officials describe it as a reasonable quantity of oil coming up from the freighter. There were 250 tonnes of heavy oil and 10 tonnes of machine oil onboard the vessel when it went down. The amount of the oil released into the sea will depend on the extent of the damage to the sunken vessel. This information is also unknown.

Currently, two Swedish Coast Guard ships are at the site, monitoring the situation. The oil slick is drifting south and there is no immediate threat to the shores, the Coast Guard officials said.

Meanwhile, HELCOM Member States have offered assistance to Sweden. Finland and Germany will be sending their aircraft to monitor the oil spill. Unfortunately, heavy winds in the area are currently hampering any air monitoring or an oil spill response operation.

The 155 meter-long roll-on, roll-off vessel Finnbirch with a dead weight of 8,500 tonnes was on its way from Helsinki, Finland, to Aarhus, Denmark, when it was caught by a heavy storm between the Swedish islands of Gotland and Oland. 13 people of the 14 member crew were lifted from the 5 meter waves by rescue helicopters. One crew member is missing. The ship was operated by the Helsinki-based company Finnlines PLS.

Note to Editors: 

The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community.  

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi