Comoros fears massive spill from shipwreck

MORONI, March 8, 2008 - A military tanker ship which sank after catching fire last weekend in the Comoros poses a huge pollution risk to the coast of the main Indian Ocean island, the port authority said Saturday.

Agence France-Presse English Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :

MORONI, March 8, 2008 (AFP) - A military tanker ship which sank after catching fire last weekend in the Comoros poses a huge pollution risk to the coast of the main Indian Ocean island, the port authority said Saturday.

"We are facing the threat of massive pollution if the fuel leaks out and spreads along the coastline," Mohamed Said Slim Dahalani, director of the port authority for Grande Comore island, told AFP.

The Taurus, which sank in Moroni port, was supplying the Comoran army as the federal government is planning a military intervention to recapture the archipelago's renegade island of Anjouan.

"We are going to try to open one of the tanks and pump out the fuel at low tide. Even so, there is a risk because of the equipment we have, but it's better than waiting for it to leak out by itself," Dahalani said.

Floating booms were deployed around the wreck in the port of Grande Comore in a bid to contain a potential slick as workers started drilling holes in one of the ship's tanks Saturday.

The Tanzanian-flagged tanker chartered by the Oceanis company caught fire on March 2 as it prepared to supply Comoran government troops on standby in the island of Moheli, the smallest of the federation's three islands.

Finance Minister Youssouf Said has claimed that the fire was of criminal origin but security officials have said an accident could not be ruled out.

Federal Comoran forces, backed by the African Union, are planning a military onslaught to wrest back control of Anjouan, where self-declared leader Mohamed Bacar has refused to relinquish power.