The French Maritime Authority has ordered the Norwegian owner of the cargo ship which sank in the English channel yesterday to pump out the ship's 2,000 tonnes of fuel and have the vessel refloated.
The ship with a cargo of almost 3,000 new cars sank in shallow waters after a collision in thick fog with a Bahamas-registered container vessel.
The ship Tricolorwas resting on its port side in 30 metres (100 feet) of water, brushing the surface.
The owner, Wilhelmsen Lines, is reported to have had called in a Dutch salvage company, which had despatched a vessel to inspect the ship's bunker space and, if need be, have this blocked off by divers and the fuel contained by floating barriers.
A French helicopter overflew the site to check for pollution and an ocean-going tug was standing by to take on board a floating anti-pollution barrier in Dunkirk as a precautionary measure.
But authorities postponed setting up the barrier because of worsening weather conditions and what appeared to be no immediate pollution risk.
A London spokesman for Wilhelmsen Lines said the Tricolorhad been bound for Southampton with a cargo of 2,862 new BMW, Volvo and Saab cars worth an estimated total of between €25 million and €31 million, and 77 containers, which had been loaded at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
AFP