Greece: Crews cleaning up pollution from sunken tanker ship

ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s merchant marine minister says clean-up crews are working to contain pollution caused by a small tanker that sank over the weekend off a Greek island.

The Agia Zoni II sank Sunday while anchored off the coast of Salamina, near Greece’s main port of Piraeus, with a cargo of 2,200 tons of fuel oil and 370 tons of marine gas oil. Two crew members were rescued. The cause of the sinking is not known.

Panagiotis Kouroumplis said Tuesday that crews had managed to seal the ship’s cargo hold by 95 per cent to stop the leaking of oil. A pumping operation to remove the cargo was expected to begin later in the day.