The Diplomat
The Royal Gibraltar Police announced yesterday in a statement that the captain of the vessel Gas Venus has been charged with two environmental offences following the fuel spill on 1 August during a bunkering operation and will appear in court this week.
On Friday 18 August, the captain of the vessel, identified as SK, a 56-year-old Korean national, was charged with the offence of “discharging or allowing the discharge of oil of any kind into British territorial waters of Gibraltar” at Gibraltar Police Station. New Mole House Police.
He was also charged with an alleged offence of “damaging a resting place of a wild animal of a European protected species” under Section 17T (1) (d) of the Nature Protection Act 1991, reports Europa Press.
This charge follows an accident on the morning of Tuesday 1 August, when the tanker was refuelling a short distance from the South Jetty (South Mole) and petrol overflowed from one of its tanks. The spill was heavy fuel oil, a fuel used by ships’ engines. Part of the spill washed ashore in Gibraltar and forced the temporary closure of Camp Bay and Rosia Bay, the Rock Government has recalled.
The master has been charged following an investigation carried out by officers from the Marine Section of the Royal Gibraltar Police, with the assistance of the Port Authority and the Environment Department.
According to the Government of Gibraltar, the captain of the shipwrecked vessel has been released on bail and will appear before the Magistrate’s Court next Friday, the 25th.
