A company hired by public institutions is trying on Thursday morning to remove from the sea the remains of the tuna boat that was stranded in the town of La Condesa, in Órzola, in the north of Lanzarote, on September 10. This was reported by the Councilor for the Environment, Transportation, Health and Animal Welfare of Haría, Marcos Lemes on the radio station Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
"What there is is a skeleton, a lot of solid remains, the engine and the metallic structure", explained the mayor. The tuna boat, with a Moroccan flag, was sailing near the coasts of Órzola when it ran aground in a rocky area at 5:00 in the morning. A few hours later, it began to burn.
For those who do not know it, this part of the coast is deceptive and with the low tide the pebbles are usually exposed. In this boat five people were traveling, including a minor, who were treated as migrants arriving to the islands in inflatable boats or pateras and transferred to different reception resources in Lanzarote.
The oil and petroleum spills produced after the grounding of the ship forced the emergency activation of the National Maritime Plan. It was estimated that the boat had departed from Morocco with 5,500 liters of diesel, but a good part of this fuel was burned. Later in the morning, the tuna boat began to burn, leaving only remains in the area. Lemes has indicated that around 80-90% of the fuel was burned in the ship's fire.
According to the Councilor for the Environment of Haría, in a joint meeting between the Cabildo of Lanzarote it was agreed that an external company would cut the engine, which, given that it weighed around 2,000 kilos, was very difficult to move in any other way. "They are going to move the remains towards the shore", he added.
In this way, the crane will work with an 80-meter arm from the road, to avoid affecting the lava flows in this area.
At the same time, the councilor of Nueva Canarias has denounced on the air the lack of information from the Cabildo of Lanzarote regarding the tuna boat.
Four beaches closed, awaiting results
Meanwhile, the Haría City Council keeps four coves in the municipality closed to swimming, Charco la Cruz, La Condesa, Caletón Blanco and Charco de La Pared, awaiting the results of the analyzes to check the water quality.
