Zach Crawford
(ANSA) – TUNIS, April 17 – Divers began searching the hull of the oil tanker “Zelo” that sank yesterday off Gabes in Tunisia, carrying 750 tons of diesel. Tunisian Transport Minister Rabih Majidi said in a press conference that there is no loss of fuel for the time being.
The minister, who was at the scene today with the owner of the environment department, Laila Chikhaoui, added that divers are working to connect the boat with the locomotives that will bring it back to the surface. “This process is sensitive, complex and requires great skill,” the minister pointed out. It is a real race against time to avert an environmental catastrophe, because the site of the shipwreck as the WWF states is a “fishing area for 600 fishermen” and the Gulf of Gabes “hosts about 34,000 of them. Decades of decades they have been subjected to chemical attacks polluting” due to industries that process phosphates. The Tunisian Ministry of Defense said that the navy is currently supervising interventions to prevent marine pollution on the coast of Gabes, adding that “friendly” countries have offered to help prevent fuel spills and avert an environmental disaster.
Italy made available two ships, air and sea vehicles and also an underwater drone to support local authorities in monitoring and monitoring any leaks at sea, the Vega and Orione patrol boats. (handle).
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Laurence Malcom
