Ship carrying cars worth €45m sinks

THE operation to salvage a cargo ship which sank in the English Channel carrying over €45 million worth of luxury cars was continuing yesterdayThe Tricolor, a Norwegian-registered car carrier, had 2,862 BMWs, Volvos and Saabs on board bound for British and US showrooms when it collided with the Bahamas-registered container ship Kariba in bad weather 30 miles east of Ramsgate.

The crew of 24 scrambled into lifeboats as the 50,000-ton, 200-metre ship went down within 90 minutes of the collision.

The men were taken to Dunkirk but were not thought to be injured.

Attempts to salvage the ship were hampered by thick fog on Saturday night and the bad weather continued yesterday morning, French coastguards said.

The French warship Geranium, dispatched from Cherbourg, remained alongside to alert other ships to the Tricolor’s presence in the water.

A single buoy also marks the spot, and once the weather improves, three or four will be put up to prevent collisions with the wreck.

A coastguard spokeswoman said they were waiting to find out if a salvage ship decided on by the company was going to try to pump out the 2,000 tons of fuel on board.

Attempts to raise the ship afterwards could take several weeks, she added.

She said: “The weather is not very good. It depends on the weather so we await information about pumping.”

A pollution control aircraft was dispatched from Coventry yesterday to fly overhead searching for signs of leakage, said a Dover Coastguard. But he added visibility was still poor.

The Tricolor had picked up its cargo in Zeebrugge, Belgium, and was on its way to Southampton before continuing on its journey to the US, when the collision happened.

Also on board the Tricolor were 77 other cargo units, which mainly consisted of tractors and crane parts.

The ship itself was estimated to be worth over €38m with the cargo valued at between €38m and €48m.