Anti-pollution exercise at Sarroch: in ten minutes the virtual spillage was contained
Just ten minutes to deploy 250 m of booms and contain the mock oil spill at sea. This was the result of the drill conducted as per the local emergency response plan of the Harbourmaster, launched after simulating an oil spill off the coast of Sarroch.
[print_continuous_slider_plus_lightbox id=”29″]
The exercise, which started this morning at 9.45 hrs, saw the participation of Sarlux personnel and two of the three anti-pollution vessels patrolling the waters off Sarroch on a 24 hr basis, as foreseen in the Internal Emergency Plan of Sarlux. On board the “rec-oil” vessel named Nettuno, crew members set the booms in the sea and thus contained the mock spill. The drill simulated the breakage of a loading arm during oil off-loading from tanker ship Baltic Chief 1.
After communication to the control room of the Harbour Master’s Office through the direct point-to-point connection, the vessels of the Authority started out. From the pier operators activated the hydrants to cover the spill with foam, to prevent possible fire risk. At the same time, the booms were deployed to contain the pretend spill and recover the product with skimmers. All operations took place in coordination with the Harbour Master’s Office.
At the end of the exercise, the Coast Guard inspection team met together for a debrief with Sarlux Operations Manager Antonello Atzori and Anti-pollution Manager Antonello Cogoni, to run through the results of the exercise. Finally, the delegation went on board the ship to complete their audit. The simulation lasted 75 minutes, as programmed.
The six Sarlux anti-pollution teams providing 24-hour coverage train every day in the use of emergency response vessels and equipment to protect the sea. Additional protection is provided by the “Battellieri”, emergency response teams that patrol the waters off Sarroch on a 24-hour basis.