A merchant ship loaded with fuel sank off the coast of Gabes in Tunisia on Friday, as «Archyde.com» reported. The ship Xelo was en route from Equatorial Guinea to Malta. It had 750 tons of fuel on board and made an emergency call regarding ten kilometers from Gabes, to which the Tunisian Navy responded. According to Archyde.com, all seven crew members were rescued by the Tunisian Navy.
The cause of the accident was bad weather, the environment ministry said, according to the news agency. It added water entered the ship and reached a height of two meters.
Of the “Guardian» reports that the Tunisian Ministry of the Environment has described the situation around the ship as «alarming» and has drawn up an «urgent national intervention plan». According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the Customs Office are working to “prevent an environmental disaster in the region and limit its impact”. The Ministry of the Environment has announced that the situation is “under control”.
