Oil Pollution Spotted After Tanker Runs Aground off Japan

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday February 15, 2017

The Japan Coast Guard has found oil pollution in the water following the grounding in rough weather of the 6,700 DWT tanker Sagan on an island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Saturday, Japanese media reports.

The coast guard is said to have received an emergency call from the Panamanian-flagged and Taiwanese-operated tanker around 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

Oil pollution has since been spotted around the hull of the ship, but salvage operations are reported to have been hampered by rough weather.

The 18 crew members of the vessel were all rescued by helicopter, said the coast guard.

Japanese authorities are said to be monitoring the situation and have launched an investigation into the cause of the incident.

The tanker is said to be operated by Ocean Grow International Shipmanagement.