Blaze on tanker off Aspropyrgos
A Greek oil tanker caught fire while waiting to take on fuel off the coast of Attica yesterday, but the blaze was extinguished three hours later without causing any injuries, or damage to the environment. According to the Merchant Marine Ministry, the fire on the Theopisti, which was anchored off Skaramangas waiting to load fuel yesterday, started in a cabin used as a lumber room by the crew, and spread to other cabins. All 20 Greek and foreign crew members and another eight people who were on board were unhurt. The Theopisti, managed by Aegean Shipping Management – which owns the aging Byzantio oil tanker that was targeted as a potential environmental threat by Greenpeace activists in the Baltic earlier this month – was carrying 2,000 tons of heavy fuel oil. This is the same fuel that caused an environmental disaster when spilled off northern Spain last month by the Prestige tanker. The Theopisti had arrived at Skaramangas on Thursday, from Libya.
