Bareli

The incident

On the 15th March 2012 the container ship Bareli ran aground 6 nautical miles off an island as it was en route to the Fuzhou International Container Terminal, China. The 21 members of the crew were all rescued. As a result of the grounding the ship's hull cracked amidships, spilling bunker fuel into the sea.

Response at sea

In the initial response to the pollution at sea, the responders relied heavily on sorbent use. Bad weather conditions and strong currents hindered the deployment of booms.

Response on land

The neighbouring islands were relatively unaffected by the spill (tarballs). No pollutant arrivals were reported in aquaculture zones (abalone, seaweed). The clean-up operations on the shoreline started with the recovery of oiled solid waste (chunks of container, shoes). In certain areas (ITOPF) experts advised taking no action to allow natural clean-up. However, the solid surfaces situated in zones of activity (quays, slipways) were treated.

Containers

Of the 165 containers which fell overboard, 80 were considered hazardous. Some of them contained highly toxic herbicides and pesticides. The various oiled packages or bottles which washed up on the shoreline presented a danger to the responders working on shoreline clean-up.