An 82-metre general cargoship capsized in the English Channel Tuesday after colliding with a fishing vessel.
The 2,300-dwt Britannica Hav (built 1985) is turned over and still adrift as a result of the impact with the Belgian-flagged Deborah, according to France’s Maritime Prefect.
The ship is owned by Norway’s Hav Shipping, according to VesselsValue.
The Maritime Prefect said it was alerted of the accident at around 1540 by the Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue (CROSS) of Jobourg, France.
The collision occurred about 50 nautical miles northeast of Cherbourg, France.
The Maltese-flagged Britannica Hav’s seven crew members evacuated the ship aboard two liferafts and were recovered by Deborah.
The seafarers were flown by helicopter with medical personnel on board to France’s Querqueville Airfield.
The captain of the fishing vessel was slightly wounded in the head but did not evacuate his ship, the Maritime Prefect said.
No other seafarers were injured as a result of the collision.
The Britannica Hav was carrying 1,955 metric tonnes of steel when it collidd with Deborah, causing four 15-by-20-foot bilge boards to tear from the hull’s left side at center.
The vessel, reportedly drifting 3 knots to the west, was surrounded by a small sheen of diesel.
The ship had 48 tonnes of light diesel on board, the Maritime Prefect said.
French rescue tug Abeille Liberte and a French coastal police boat were dispatched to monitor the Britannca Hav, which could not be towed.
The maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea has asked for help from French Navy rescue and decontamination ship Argonaute in carrying out pollution abatement.
