As of: October 12, 2024 3:50 p.m
The oil tanker “Annika”, which caught fire on the Baltic Sea off Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has been extinguished and is in the overseas port of Rostock. As soon as it is safe to board the ship, the search for the cause of the fire will begin. According to initial findings, a deflagration could have triggered the fire.
The fire in the oil tanker “Annika”, which caught fire on the Baltic Sea off Kühlungsborn and Heiligendamm, has been out since early this morning. The “Annika” is now safely located in the overseas port of Rostock. The fire department has set up an oil barrier to prevent any contamination of the water. However, an underwater inspection of the ship by divers found no abnormalities. However, the port captain said there should be a more detailed evaluation by the divers.
Search for the cause of the fire
The search for the cause of the fire will begin in the coming days. An expert involved in the salvage work reported on Saturday that there was a deflagration on board due to a burst fuel line in the engine room, which caused the paint and varnish room to catch fire. The investigations must now show that. According to a spokesman for the Rostock water police, the ship must first rest. Fire investigators can only safely begin their work after 48 hours. There are currently only one fire watch and one line watch on board.
“Annika” reaches Rostock harbor at night
The damaged ship reached the port in Rostock on Saturday night with the help of a towing convoy. The ship, loaded with 640 tons of heavy oil, was towed the 15 nautical mile (28 kilometer) distance to the bulk cargo port of Rostock by two tugs from a private salvage company. The emergency tug “Baltic” and the multi-purpose ship “Arkona” accompanied the association. According to the accident command, forces from the Kiel fire department provided fire watch on board during the towing process.
More information
Remaining fire-fighting work in the port
The fire on board the oil tanker triggered a large-scale operation by fire-fighting and rescue teams. Since Friday morning, a total of around 120 forces have been deployed from the water, land and air under the direction of the German Emergency Command. Three fire-fighting ships fought the fire from the outside on the Baltic Sea for several hours. However, it was under control by early Friday evening. According to the accident command, the fire apparently engulfed the entire stern of the ship. However, the cargo – oil and chemicals – was not affected. For tactical reasons, the overall operations management decided to continue fighting the fire at a berth on land. According to the accident command, there were better options for extinguishing the fire in the harbor than on the open sea. The condition of the damaged vessel was assessed as “stable” by the fire brigade teams in the evening.
Crew members released from hospital
All seven crew members were safely rescued from the ship on Friday morning by the Wilma Sikorski sea rescue boat of the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People (DGzRS). According to the Rostock district, two crew members had inhaled smoke gas. As a precaution, the entire crew was taken to the hospital in Bad Doberan as well as to the Südtstadtklinik and the university clinic in Rostock. In the evening, the accident command announced that the rescued crew of the “Annika” had been released. The seven seafarers are looked after by specialists from the German Seamen’s Mission and receive psychosocial care if necessary.
videos
It is unclear where the fire broke out on board
It is still unclear where exactly the fire broke out on board. It was initially believed that there was a fire in the ship’s engine room. The German Emergency Response Command later assumed that the fire could also have started in the paint and varnish room, the so-called “paintroom”.
Tanker loaded 640 tons of oil and chemicals
The burning tanker loaded with oil and chemicals had been lying northeast of Kühlungsborn on the Baltic Sea since Friday morning. The 73 meter long and 12 meter wide ship with its home port of Stralsund was, According to data from the ship tracking portal Marine Traffic, the ship started at around 8 a.m. in Rostock towards Travemünde and stopped at 9:12 a.m. off the coast of Kühlungsborn and Heiligendamm. According to the DGzRS and the accident command, the sea rescue cruiser “Arkona” as well as the deep-sea rescue tug “Baltic” and the multi-purpose ship “Arkona” were initially with the tanker and fought the fire from the outside with water cannons. The sea area and airspace were closed within a radius of three nautical miles around the stricken vessel.
Environmental disaster was averted
State Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) and environmental organizations expressed their concern for the Baltic Sea ecosystem on the occasion of the accident. Every drop of oil that ends up in the Baltic Sea would be one too many, according to the environmental organization Greenpeace. The lake area near the Kadetrinne is particularly at risk as a nature reserve with stone reefs and porpoise migration routes, but according to Minister Backhaus it is also one of the busiest shipping routes in the world. Meanwhile, the environmental organization WWF praised the quick response of the rescue workers and firefighting teams.
Baltic Sea expert: Shipping traffic is a daily threat
Oliver Zielinski, director of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), expressed relief in the afternoon about the rapid rescue operation on the Baltic Sea. Such a situation is worrying, but the firefighting and tugboat capacities would have prevented oil from escaping. Nevertheless, the danger still exists, says Zielinski. A good 2,000 ships with dangerous cargo or fuel in their tanks are traveling there day and night. You have to think about how much shipping traffic is wanted on the Baltic Sea, said Zielinski in the NDR interview.
More information
