Stricken cargo ship to be scrapped

A cargo ship which ran aground in rough seas will be broken up and scrapped, the owners said today.

Two lifeboats and Royal Navy and RAF helicopters were involved in the rescue of seven Polish crew after the MV Carrier struck rocks near Colwyn Bay, north Wales, on Tuesday in heavy seas.

Fuel is being removed from the ship by PGC Demolition of Heywood, Lancashire, over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Today, the German shipping firm Reederei Erwin Strahlmann, which owns and manages the vessel, confirmed the ship was to be scrapped.

The ship, which is registered in Antigua and Barbuda and was carrying a cargo of stone, is now resting against concrete blocks on the beach at Llanddulas, which runs adjacent to the A55 which was re-opened on Thursday night.

The operation to remove around 35 tonnes of fuel from the vessel was launched on Thursday.

A “small quantity” of oil which was in use at the time seeped out of the 82-metre long vessel but the impact of the leak is expected to be “minimal”, Environment Agency Wales said.

The amount of fuel on board is approximately equivalent to the capacity of two road tankers.

The company added that the crew members, who were uninjured, are expected to be repatriated home “as soon as possible”.

Five of the seamen were rescued by a Royal Navy Sea King rescue helicopter scrambled from RNAS Prestwick.

But the aircraft developed a problem with its winch wire, forcing rescue co-ordinators to send out a second helicopter from RAF Leconfield in Yorkshire to collect the remaining two crew members.