site.btaStranded Tanker to Be Towed into Burgas Bay on December 12

The operation to tow the tanker Kairos into Burgas Bay will begin on Friday, Executive Director of the Maritime Administration Executive Agency Ventsislav Ivanov told journalists on Thursday.

Ivanov said that repairs to the tanker cannot be carried out in Bulgaria because it is subject to sanctions under a European Commission regulation. As a result, the only assistance the authorities can offer is to guide the vessel safely out of Bulgarian waters. The tanker became unable to manoeuvre after the Turkish tugboat abandoned it due to bad weather, he added.

“The ship was monitored by the Bulgarian border authorities and the Navy. There are no reports of any vessels entering Bulgarian territorial waters that would require additional intervention,” he noted, adding that the captain of the Turkish tugboat probably did not speak English and was therefore unable to establish contact with the Bulgarian authorities.

Kairos is completely unable to independently generate electrical power or operate any onboard systems, said Director of the Burgas Maritime Administration Zhivko Petrov. He noted that the engines are inoperative and that water has entered the engine room.

The Gambian-flagged oil tanker Kairos, owned by a Chinese company, ran aground off the Black Sea town of Ahtopol on Friday with a ten-member crew on board, after the Turkish tugboat Timur Bey, which had been towing it, detached from the vessel in Bulgarian territorial waters and returned south. Since then, the Defence Ministry, the Transport and Communications Ministry and the Maritime Administration Executive Agency have coordinated rescue operations: Navy Panther helicopters have delivered food, water, communications equipment and a generator to the ship and evacuated most of the crew in stages, while several seafarers have remained on board at the shipowner’s request. Environmental and maritime authorities say the tanker, which is empty of cargo and lies some 700–800 metres from shore, is stable and there is no oil pollution, and plans are being made to tow it to an anchorage near the entrance to Burgas Bay once technical problems are resolved.