Luxury cargo goes down with ship

12.15pm

LONDON/PARIS - A Norwegian-registered ship has sunk in the English Channel taking a multi-million dollar cargo of luxury cars with it after a collision with a container ship in thick fog.

All 24 crew were rescued after the collision on Saturday at the entrance of the Dover Strait between England and France.

The Tricolor was carrying 2,862 cars, including BMWs, Volvos and Saabs, worth up to $97 million, a spokesman for Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines said in Oslo.

The car carrier had about 2,000 tons of oil aboard, according to Lloyd's Casualty Reporting Service.

Belgian coastguards said there was a slight leakage, but the Belgian sea rescue service said it was not aware any oil had spilled.

Lloyd's said the Tricolor, which was taking its cargo from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Southampton in England, was now lying in about 25 metres of water.

Lloyd's said the container ship, the Bahamas-registered Kariba, was seriously damaged but was making its own way to the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The Tricolor's captain and two officers were taken aboard the Kariba, British and French coastguards said.

The rest of the mostly Filipino crew were picked up by a tug boat and have been taken to hospital in the French port Dunkirk, but there were no reports of injuries, they said.

A Belgian frigate Wandelaar is ensuring security around the Tricolor while Franco-British tug boat Far Turbot is on its way to the ship, French authorities said in a statement.

The Tricolor was also carrying tractors, crane parts and escalators in 77 roll-on-roll-off containers.

- REUTERS

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine