Update 2: Maltese-flagged tanker collides off France

Transport Malta is investigating the collision involving the 2008-built 4,829 gross tonnage Maltese registered chemical tanker YM Uranus with the 93,152 GT Panamanian flagged bulk carrier Hanjin Rizhao.

The collision took place in the vicinity of the Ushant traffic separation scheme, off the French coast early this morning.

Two technical officials, a master mariner and an engineer, from the Merchant Shipping Directorate of Transport Malta are on their way to Brest to carry on scene investigations.

Transport Malta said it was informed the ship took on water as a result of the collision but no cargo holds were breached.

At the time of the accident the Maltese registered ship was carrying a cargo of heavy pygas.

All 13 crew members, of Latvian, Russian and Philippines nationality, were safely air lifted from the vessel by the French rescue services.

No pollution has so far been reported in the area. Transport Malta said it was also informed that a salvage team and French authorities were onboard assessing the situation

Salvage operations are being carried out accordingly and the ship is currently under tow heading towards Brest where she is expected to arrive later this evening.

The other ship involved in the collision has been authorised by French authorities to continue with her planned voyage.

Transport Malta is keeping close contact with the safety managers of the ship and liaising with the French Accident Investigation Board and Panamanian authorities in the investigation of the causes leading to this accident. Maltese authorities are also in close contact with the Embassy of Malta in Paris.

The Uranus was en route from Porto Marghera in Italy to Amsterdam when the collision occurred with the Hanjin Richzad, a 191-metre Panama-flagged freighter travelling from Las Palmas in Spain to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

One ship was apparently overtaking the other.

Weather at the time of the accident was clement, with a 1.50 metre swell, the coastguard said.

The Brittany coast is at the western entrance to the Channel, one of the world's busiest waterways, and has in the past been hit by several environmental disasters linked to shipping.

In 1978, the sinking of Liberian-flagged supertanker the Amoco Cadiz devastated around 320 kilometres of pristine shoreline with 230,000 tonnes of crude oil.

In 1999, the Erika tanker, another Maltese-flagged ship, carrying 30,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil broke in two and sank off Brittany, polluting a large stretch of coastline and killing tens of thousands of seabirds.

The French oil company Total was found guilty of failing to address maintenance problems when it chartered the rusty 25-year-old Erika.

French beach resorts were deserted, fishing was halted and shellfish banned from consumption in the aftermath of the oil spill, leaving the local economy on its knees for years.