Midia Marine Terminal announced on Friday that ARAS Salvage has obtained the necessary approvals and received approval for the plan to surface the tugboat Astana, sunk in Midia Port.
Astana tugboat Photo: Marinarii.ro
The contractor, ARAS Salvage, has started preliminary operations for the recovery of the sunken tugboat, according to the press release published by Midia Marine Terminal.
Operations include establishing the work perimeter, adopting safety and environmental protection measures, positioning the multi-role vessel “Yogi” and mobilizing teams of specialized and certified divers for deep-sea operations.
The tug Astana sank on March 18 in Midia Port during unloading maneuvers for an oil tanker. Then, the tug sank into the water, reaching a depth of 26 meters.
After the sinking of the tug, teams of maritime specialists carried out a series of technical inspections of the vessel, both for the extraction of liquids on board and for a detailed analysis of the vessel's position.
According to Midia Terminal, if viable technical solutions will be identified during the operation, the possibility of accessing the interior of the ship is not excluded. Any search action will be carried out exclusively if the concrete situation will allow interventions to be carried out in complete safety for the divers.
After the preliminary work, the teams of divers of ARAS Salvage will carry out the operation of extracting the liquids from inside the ship, after which they will be transferred to the multi-role support ship “Yogi”.
The phase of liquid extraction and transfer to the multirole vessel will last between 5 and 7 days, according to the plan approved by the authorities.
Additionally, floating dams were placed on the surface of the water to prevent pollution.
“We note that all actions carried out by divers are subject to the approval of the competent authorities and must proceed in accordance with the procedures in force“, according to Media Terminal.
