CHEMICAL SHIP IN TROUBLE

Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) Inspectors have boarded a German-owned cargo ship carrying potentially dangerous chemicals that got into trouble off the coast of Kent.

Salvage experts are attempting to make safe the Antiguan registered vessel ‘AB Bilbao’, which is two miles off Margate, to assess if the ship could be moved.

The vessel was on her way from Sweden to Spain carrying a cargo of ferrocilicone, when a minor blast blew off her hatch cover.

The explosion was caused by water coming into contact with the chemical although the crew took action to prevent any more water getting into the hold.

A spokesperson at Dover coastguard said the chemical gives off noxious fumes when it comes into contact with water.

A surveyor has boarded the vessel to assess any damage.

Crew members have been ordered to wear gas masks until the ship is towed to port as gases including hydrogen, phosphine and arsine, a derivative of arsenic, have started venting from the cargo hold.

A Dover Coastguard spokesman said: "We have a fire-fighting tug half a mile away in case anything should go badly wrong.

"The MCA are on board to assess the situation while the gasses are vented from the hold.

"Once it is safe to do so the ship will be towed to an appropriate port where the cargo can be off-loaded and the ship repaired."