27 Jul 2017

Fuel to be pumped from stricken vessel off New Caledonia

7:31 pm on 27 July 2017

Salvage teams will pump out fuel from the container ship Kea Trader stranded on a reef off New Caledonia.

The Kea Trader

The Kea Trader Photo: AFP

The brand new 200-metre long ship ran onto the Durand Reef about 100 kilometres southeast of the island of Mare two weeks ago, while it was on its way from Papeete in French Polynesia to Noumea.

There has been no reported leak of any of the 700 tonnes of fuel onboard, and no word about why the ship ran onto the reef.

The French High Commissioner Thierry Lataste and the visiting French overseas minister Annick Girardin have inspected the stricken vessel from a helicopter.