YANBU, 6 March 2008 — An oil tanker carrying one million barrels of crude sent out a distress signal and was towed back to the King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu.
The ship, which reported engine failure about 200 kilometers from the port, arrived back at the port yesterday, officials told Arab News.
“KFIP’s emergency operation’s team rescued the oil tanker meandering amid the coral reefs following engine failure off the Duba coast,” Hammoud Al-Saadi, director general of the port, told Arab News yesterday.
Venture Navigation Co., Ltd. of Greece owns the 20-year-old Dominican-registered ship, according to Lloyd’s Registry. The ship was destined for the port of Aqaba, Jordan.
The distress call said the ship’s engines had broken down and was floating with the currents about 200 kilometers from Yanbu.
The rescue team found the captain of the ship steering without power as the weather was turning nasty. No injuries were reported.
“The successful operation averted a shipwreck and a major environmental disaster. The tanker was floating at an area close to virgin coral reefs. Any leakage of the ship’s load would have devastated the reefs,” Al-Saadi said.
Desalination plants in nearby Duba would have been affected by an oil spill, the port official added.
“Three powerful towboats struggled for 48 hours to bring the loaded tanker safely to the dock in Yanbu,” he said.
Oil from the Eastern Province is piped across the Kingdom for export from this northwestern port city. The western coast of Saudi Arabia is a maze of coral heads that can potentially damage and sink sea vessels. An accident involving a full oil tanker colliding with these underwater columns has a potential to cause a major environmental disaster.
