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An oil tanker is on fire in the Baltic Sea off the German coast

The fire on the tanker Annika was reported a minute before a quarter to ten. At that time, the vessel was anchored in the Mecklenburg Bay. Rescue tug Baltic immediately went to the tanker, which was given the task of extinguishing and cooling the vessel. Thick smoke could also be seen from the coast.

“Soon he had Annika in tow,” stated the website of the newspaper Ostsee-Zeitung. Firefighting helicopters and another rescue vessel were gradually added.

In the afternoon, firefighters boarded the tanker and managed to get the fire under control. The vessel is now being towed to a port near Rostock, where the fire will continue until the fire is completely extinguished. Now it only burns in the engine room.

The cause of the fire on the 73-meter-long tanker is not yet clear. The emergency headquarters in Cuxhaven, which is leading the rescue operation, confirmed that the Annika currently has 640 tons of oil on board. This means that it is “practically empty”, the paper said.

So far, nothing has leaked from the tanker, reports the ministry

Despite this, there were fears of an ecological disaster, but according to the Ministry of the Environment of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, no liquids have yet leaked from the tanker.

At first, it was not clear how large the crew of the tanker was. It later became clear that there were seven people on board. As reported by the headquarters, everyone was evacuated by the Wilma Sikorski marine rescue boat of the German Society for the Rescue of Castaways (DGzRS). Shortly after, there were reports that several crew members were injured. The letter later specified that they inhaled smoke and were taken to the hospital as a precaution.