An oil spill while the LPG Carrier Gas Venus was being refueled is apparently what prompted Gibraltar Port Authority’s decision to bring port operations to a halt for the entire morning.
The Port Authority announced it in a statement stressing that it had immediately drawn up an emergency plan in cooperation with the Department of the Environment to contain the environmental damage caused by the spill.
The incident occurred at 8.22 this morning. The Gas Venus’s tanks reportedly overflowed during bunkering operations. The amount of oil spilled however, has still to be quantified.
As a precautionary measure, the government has suspended bathing in certain locations not far from Gibraltar, such as Camp Bay and Little Bay, over fears that the polluted stretch of water could increase.
Translation by Giles Foster
