Ferry drydocked at Astican, oil spill enforced closure of eight beaches

The "Volcán de Tamasite" was drydocked at the Astican Yard in the port of Luz in Las Palmas on Apr 23 to repair the damage suffered at the bow in the allision with the Nelson Mandela pier while leaving port bound to Santa Cruz. The ferry had suffered a black-out and got out of control. The bow tip and also the bulbous bow were severly damaged, 60 tons diesel were spilt from ruptured pipes inside the pier so that eight beaches south of Las Palmas on a stretch of 20 kilometers between San Cristóbal and Gnadowere were closed for the public while anti pollution ships were working to recover the slick which had a length of 15 kilometers and was drifting one kilometer off the coast. 10 meters of the dam and the Oryx's pipeline infrastructure which was capable of fueling the Suezmax shipswere destroyed. The repairs were exptected to last four months.