There is seem to be no leakage of fuel or oil
The most popular dive site in the British Virgin Islands was closed to visitors Monday after a cargo ship ran aground in the Caribbean marine park.
Joseph Smith Abbott, director of the islands’ National Parks Trust, said the Wreck of the RMS Rhone park would be closed until further notice.
The local disaster management agency was investigating the accident and drawing up a plan to get the Tropical Shipping company’s ship off the rocks.
Chris Haycraft, managing director of Island Shipping and Trading, Tropical Shipping’s agents in the British territory, said the cargo ship was headed from Tortola to St. Maarten when it crashed into the rocks about 10 p.m. Sunday.
There are a few visible holes in the ship’s hull, but there doesn’t seem to be any leakage of fuel or oil, said Kevin Rowlette, a towing company employee who examined the grounded vessel.
The sunken steamer RMS Rhone at the heart of the park was not hit by the grounded ship. It is the remains of a British mail ship that sank with 125 people aboard in 1869.
The territory created an 800-acre (320-hectare) national park around the wreck in 1980.
Source: AP
