Bulgaria Warns of Containers Washing Ashore from Contship Jet
There are increasing reports of debris coming ashore from the Greek-owned containership Contship Jet that was sailing for Zim when it went down last week in the Black Sea. The ship sank approximately 16 nautical miles offshore on October 29, about 12 hours after it was struck by three sea drones.
The vessel was reported to have 421 containers loaded when it was lost. The manifest showed that flammable liquids and gases, non-flammable gases, and lithium-ion batteries were among the listed hazardous cargo. Other reports said there was general cargo, including Christmas merchandise heading to Romania.
The vessel had taken on a heavy list and was drifting to the south in the hours after the attack. Reports said that more than 20 of the containers had fallen overboard. Rough seas were further complicating the situation in the hours before the vessel succumbed and went down overnight.
By Sunday, November 1, reports said that at least four containers were seen drifting in the Black Sea, but conditions made it impossible to retrieve them.
The first of the containers crashed ashore on Sunday and became wedged in the rocks. Media reports say it was harmless, containing Christmas trees. Concerns, however, were raised when a second container frame holding a large tank was spotted drifting offshore. Officials said they suspected the tank was empty, but they increased the warnings when it was driven ashore.
Another red container was spotted half submerged, and then late on Monday another container became stuck in the rocks close to shore at Tsarevo. The Navy said it would attempt to inspect the container on Tuesday, but that it is in shallow waters and with rough seas it was difficult to reach. They were still discussing how to move the container to a safer location.
Government officials are warning of the dangers of the containers from the ship, saying that the rough seas make it impossible to recover any of the containers or tanks. They were hoping to begin towing the containers once the sea conditions improve.
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For now, they are cautioning ships while saying it is impossible to predict how many containers will float up.
Concerns were also raised about the fuel still aboard the vessel. Weather conditions, however, have made it impossible to survey the wreck or determine at what depth it lies.
