Brand aan boord van het vrachtschip Pallas: opnieuw een olie-incident in de Noordzee

The bulkcarrier MS Pallas caught fire during stormy weather off the Danish coast near Esbjerg in the night 25/26 October 1998. On 28 Oct 1998. the averaged, burning carrier stranded 2 nautical miles off Amrum in Schleswig-Holstein (54° 32,519: 8° 17,24 E: Fig. I). Onboard this ship, apart from the burning cargo of wood, there was 600t heavy fuel oil and I50t diesel oil. The oil of the MS Pallas will be disposed of with the support of the lifting-installation ‘Barbara ’ from Rotterdam. Until 20 November 1998, a total of about 50t of oil has spilled into the water. On the basis of aerial surveys several large oil slicks occurred at sea. The oil on the water was and is combatted with different oil combat ships if weather and tide conditions allowed it. The following coastlines were polluted by oil in the area of jetsam: Amrum. Fdhr. Syll (Hornum), Norderoogsand, southern tip ofHooge. According to data from bird monitoring of the last years and topical surveys in the area concerned, there are about 130,000 birds in this area which are threatened by the oil pollution, including 50,000 Common Scoters and 20,000 Eiders. The only small reproductive colony of Grey seals (about 50 animals) in Germany is located on Jungnamensand, an outersand of Amrum. The first pup of this year was born on another outersand some days ago. These seals have not been seen omn the spot since the Pallas ran aground, probably as a result of repetitive disturbance by ships and aircraft. Some oiled seals were seen and one was shot.