Sunken Ship News

First responders and volunteers from Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday sought to contain an oil spill detected last week in the Caribbean country's waters and clean areas of Tobago island's coast already affected by the incident.Trinidad and Tobago's coast guard first spotted the spill on Feb. 7, about 6 kilometers off the coast of Studley Park, the chief secretary of Tobago's national assembly, Farley Augustine, said in a press conference on Sunday.Barriers have been installed to contain the spill…

Rare video footage showing the Titanic ocean liner on the floor of the Atlantic is being released on Wednesday, decades after the discovery of the wreckage and more than a century after the ship hit an iceberg and sunk.The footage from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was shot about 2 miles (3 km) below the ocean's surface, just months after explorers found the wreckage in 1985. Most of it has not been previously released to the public.Since the discovery, several documentaries about the Titanic have showed footage of the wreckage scene.

Thailand's military mobilised helicopters, warships and unmanned drones off its central coast on Tuesday as rescue teams raced against time to find survivors after a navy corvette sank at the weekend in choppy waters.One marine was rescued alive on Tuesday from the waters of the Gulf of Thailand, the navy said, among dozens who were forced to abandon the HTMS Sukhothai late on Sunday after it was knocked over by four-metre (13 ft) waves and strong winds. Five were found dead.There were 24 marines still unaccounted for by Tuesday evening.

More than 440 tons of heavy fuel oil was extracted from the tanks of the sunken general cargo vessel Thorco Cloud. The wreck lies in two sections 1,730 meters apart and 70 meters down in the middle of the eastbound traffic lane of the Singapore Strait following a collision in December 2015. The heavy oil in the fuel tanks and in trapped compartments was seen as a major pollution hazard. Both the bow and stern sections contained fuel tanks that required emptying, so the Thorco Cloud’s owner, Marship GmbH, supported by the P&I insurance company Standard Club, contracted Jaya Salvage Indonesia early last year. Bumi Subsea provided remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and the dynamically positioned Surf Allamanda, owned by Bourbon Offshore.

Innocap has entered into an agreement with a company in Singapore to assist in the recovery of a large shipment of tin from a sunken ship that is believed to be in the waters between Indonesia and Malaysia, announced Innocap president, Paul Tidwell.   Innocap said it will receive 40 percent of the proceeds of the salvaged cargo after payment of all expenses related to the salvage effort.   The parties will also use a portion of the proceeds from the salvaged assets equal to $600,000 to recover another sunken cargo believed to have sunk in the South China Sea.

A team of civilian researchers led by entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul G. Allen have found the wreck of the World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA 35), which was lost July 30, 1945. This is a significant discovery considering the depth of the water in which the ship was lost - more than 18,000 feet. Around 800 of the ship's 1,196 Sailors and Marines survived the sinking, but after four to five days in the water - suffering exposure, dehydration, drowning and shark attacks - only 316 survived. The wreck was located by the expedition crew of Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel, which is owned by Allen, 5,500 meters below the surface, resting on the floor of the North Pacific Ocean.

Brazilian miner Vale SA said on Monday that 260,000 tonnes of fine iron ore on a South Korean ship that sank in the South Atlantic had been insured.   Vale said in an email that the cargo, which belonged to the Brazilian miner, was bound for China for storage and blending when the ship operated by South Korea's Polaris Shipping, Stellar Daisy, sank off Uruguay's coast.   Vale said the cargo had been stowed in accordance with international norms.   Reporting by Roberto Samora

Dukane-Seacom has awarded Mackay Marine a worldwide distributorship for its voyage data recorder (VDR) acoustic beacons. These devices are attached to a ship’s VDR and activated in the event a vessel is submerged, after which the beacon will be the primary signal locator for a sunken ship. Mackay Marine will be Dukane’s primary distributor for the U.S.; selling and installing Dukane acoustic beacon’s directly from Mackay’s 15 U.S. locations and through independent maritime dealers. Inventory and distribution will be coordinated from Mackay’s Miami office. Outside the U.S., Mackay has distribution rights through its 15 international locations and network of 90 marine service agents, with the exception of Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The voyage data recorder (VDR) belonging to sunken cargo ship El Faro was found early Tuesday morning in 15,000 feet of water, about 41 miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced. A specialist team comprised of investigators and scientists from the NTSB, the U.S. Coast Guard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Tote Services, the owner and operator of El Faro, located the VDR using remotely operated undersea search equipment. Video footage showing El Faro's VDR is available here. At about 1 a.m.

A Panamanian cargo vessel MV Fortune Life sank off the coast 130 nautical off Vigan City in Ilocos Sur, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), uthorities said. The Coast Guard received a distress signal from Hong Kong about the maritime incident. According to the Public Information Office of PCG,   the search for 13 missing crew members is continuing. PCG Northwestern Luzon district commander and Captain Leovigildo Panopio said that they have dispatched two search and rescue (SAR) vessels to find the crew of  Fortune Life, which sank Friday past 8 pm. “Under the SAR plan, the search is perpendicular. We are looking for the survivors who were able to float,” he said.

Wreckage found on the ocean bottom off the Bahamas has been confirmed by the National Transportation Safety Board to be the lost cargo ship El Faro, which sank with 33 crew aboard October 1. Wreckage consistent with the 790-foot El Faro was discovered upright and intact by a U.S. Navy salvage team using side-scanning sonar equipment in the vicinity of the cargo ship’s last known position on October 31, according to NTSB. The wreck sits roughly 15,000 feet below the surface. A deep ocean remotely operated vehicle outfitted with a video camera was used to survey and identify the vessel…

Deep seas may complicate efforts to find the sunken U.S. cargo ship lost off the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin, a federal safety investigator said, as a search and rescue mission for 32 missing crew stretched into a sixth day. A U.S. National Transportation Safety Board team arrived on Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida, the port the El Faro departed from last week en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship disappeared in what maritime experts have called the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than 30 years.

Taba, an Egyptian ferry, carrying passengers, cargo and trucks, sank in the Red Sea early on Sunday, according to state-owned news agency MENA. The 6,600-gt Taba (built 1985) had capsized because the trucks on board the ship were parked mainly on one side, according to Abdel-Rehim Mostafa, spokesman for the Red Sea Ports Authority. Nine people suffered minor injuries, but all 37 people on board, including 27 crew members, were saved. Mostafa added that the crew sent SOS signals to the naval base in Safaga port and rescue ships were immediately dispatched to help the stranded passengers and crew. No one was injured. The ship, which was carrying cargo as well as trucks, sank because the trucks were parked mainly on one side, which caused the ship to tilt and start sinking.

Ardent, the recent merger of Titan and Svitzer Salvage and Ardentia Marine, a salvage and diving company based in Spain have, been awarded the contract to remove oil from the sunken fishing trawler Oleg Naydenov off the coast of Gran Canarias, Spain. On April 11, the vessel sustained a fire that quickly got out of control. All crew were able to abandon the vessel safely but due to the intensity of the fire, firefighting experts were unable to gain access to board the vessel and she sank approximately 15 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canarias. The vessel now sits upright on the seabed at a depth of 2,700 meters. The Ardent-Ardentia joint venture has already begun putting the necessary resources in place to execute the operational plan in a safe and efficient manner.

A passenger ship carrying 458 people sank in the Yangtze River in central China after encountering what the rescued captain said was a storm and strong winds, the government’s Xinhua News Agency reported. The ship, which departed from the eastern Chinese city Nanjing and is bound for Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, sank "within one or two minutes" after being caught in a cyclone, according to the ship's captain and chief engineer. The accident occurred at the Damazhou waterway in the middle reaches of Yangtze River, according to the Changjiang Maritime Safety Administration (MSA). The MSA and Changjiang Waterway have begun rescue the rescue mission and have saved eight people so far, including the captain and the chief engineer.

Miko Marine AS has opened a subsidiary in Morgan City, La. from where it will be able to supply ship operators and salvage companies throughout the United States with its range of products, including its magnetic patches to prevent ships from sinking. The magnetic patches, often used in conjunction with Kevlar reinforced flexible patches, create a durable water tight seal where ships’ hulls have been damaged by collision or grounding. Miko also produces high-power permanent magnets that can be used in conjunction with the patches.

U.S. Navy underwater archeologists, in conjunction with Indonesian Navy divers, have assessed in an interim report that the wrecked vessel surveyed in the Java Sea in June is "consistent with the identification" of the World War II wreck of the cruiser USS Houston (CA 30), and that divers documented conclusive evidence of a pattern of unauthorized disturbance of the gravesite. "We're grateful for the support of our Indonesian partners in determining the condition of the USS Houston," said Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. "Surveying the site, of course, was only the first step in partnering to respect those Sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the freedoms and security that we richly enjoy today," he added. U.S.

Eleven crew of a Chinese cargo ship are missing following a collision with a large container ship in the waters off Hong Kong on Monday, authorities said. Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest shipping channels, although serious accidents are rare. The cargo ship Zhong Xing 2 sank after the collision with the 300-m- (984-ft-) long Marshall Islands-registered MOL Motivator about two nautical miles southwest of Po Toi Island, a spokeswoman of the Hong Kong Maritime Department said. "Zhong Xing 2 is suspected to have sunk after the collision, and it is reported there are 12 crew onboard," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be identified in line with department policy. "One of them was picked up by a fishing vessel navigating close by," she added.

Some relatives of the more than 200 children missing in a sunken South Korean ferry offered DNA swabs on Saturday to help identify the dead as the rescue turned into a mission to recover the vessel and the bodies of those on board. The Sewol, carrying 476 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Thirty-two people are known to have died. The 69-year-old captain, Lee Joon-seok, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday on charges of negligence along with two other crew members, including the third mate who was steering at the time of the capsize. Prosecutors later said the mate was steering the Sewol through the waters where it listed and capsized - for the first time in her career.

The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized two days ago rushed back to the bridge after it started listing severely and tried in vain to right the vessel, one of the helmsmen on the ship said on Friday. A junior officer was steering the Sewol ferry when it capsized on Wednesday, leaving 28 people officially declared dead and 268 missing, almost all of them high school students. Divers are fighting strong tides and murky waters to get to the sunken ship but hopes are fading of finding any of the missing alive. "I'm not sure where the captain was before the accident. However right after the accident, I saw him rushing back into the steering house ahead of me," said Oh Young-seok, one of the helmsmen on the ship who was off duty and resting at the time.

The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on a ferry that capsized has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 268 missing alive. The Sewol, carrying 475 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday. He appeared to have hanged himself with his belt from a tree outside a gym in the port city of Jindo where relatives of the people missing on the ship, mostly children from the school, were gathered. Police said Kang did not leave a suicide note and that they started looking for him after he was reported missing by a fellow teacher. He was rescued from the ferry after it capsized.

Sterling Global Operations (SGO) has been chosen to provide surface - supplied divers for unexploded ordnance search and removal and salvage operations for the sunken 82,000-ton Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Amuriyah, an Iraqi tanker sunk near Bubiyan Island off the coast of Kuwait in Jan. 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. Special Diving Services (SDS) Holland hired SGO for this project. "For years SGO has conducted major demining and unexploded ordnance clearance projects in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries around the world," said Matt Hulsey, SGO vice president of programs.

According to multiple media reports including The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au) as well as Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the the Russian Navy reportedly sank one of its own, junked vessels to create an obstacle, a Ukrainian official claimed. Ukraine Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Mazepa was quoted as saying that Russian sailors pulled the anti-submarine vessel Ochakov out of a naval junkyard and sank it in the straits that connect the Black Sea with a body of water known as Donuzlav Lake. “The Russian Navy Ochakov Kara-class cruiser was sunk . . .