An Australian tugboat yesterday reached a cargo ship that had been drifting off the Great Barrier Reef, as environmentalists warned that greater shipping traffic could harm the world’s biggest coral reef.
The Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier ID Integrity broke down north of the Queensland city of Cairns on Friday, sparking alarm that the 186m, 45,000 tonne bulk carrier would smash into a reef near the World Heritage-listed site.
Simon Meyjes, who heads the century-old marine group Australian Reef Pilots, said it was “sheer luck” that the Integrity had not run aground at the dive site Shark Reef or nearby.
Photo: AFP / Australian Maritime Safety Authority / AMSA / AeroRescue
He said it appeared an environmental disaster had been averted by the crew dumping some of the Integrity’s seawater ballast so it passed over Shark Reef.
“I don’t know what the actual under keel clearance would have been as it went over the reef,” he said. “But certainly it would have been a very, very uncomfortable situation. They were at the mercy of the weather completely.
“I think that they have been very, very lucky,” he said.
Meyjes said had the Townsville-bound Integrity drifted slightly further to the north, it could have hit Osprey Reef, an exposed coral outcrop.
“So it’s just sheer luck,” he said. “We’re all breathing a huge sigh of relief I can assure you.”
The ship, which suffered an engine breakdown en route from Shanghai, was reached by a commercial tug, PT Kotor, yesterday as it drifted in open water in the Coral Sea.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the tug had connected a towline to the Integrity and they were traveling slowly away from the Outer Reef and awaiting the arrival of the larger tugs.
The ship’s owner, Hong Kong-based ID Wallem, said its vessel was empty and there had been no pollution spills, adding it would “take measures to avoid any environmental impact in Australian waters.”
However, the incident has angered conservationists who have long raised fears about the impact on the Great Barrier Reef, particularly from shipping, from Queensland’s coal and gas boom.
The Chinese-registered coal carrier Shen Neng 1 foundered in April 2010 leaking tonnes of heavy fuel oil and threatening an ecological disaster.
A major catastrophe was ultimately avoided but the huge ship gouged a 3km-long scar in the world’s biggest coral reef and was stranded for nine days before salvagers could refloat it.
Environmental group WWF Australia said in the latest incident, a major disaster had been averted by only a matter of meters.
It said the forecast increase in shipping traffic in the waters off Queensland was “a risky game of Russian roulette that is destined to end in disaster.”
The independent activist group GetUp! said the stricken Integrity proved it would be reckless to increase traffic in the region.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS