The idea was to refloat the ‘San Gwann’ this Wednesday morning because a second tug was needed to assist in this delicate operation. But it all came to a head at ten o’clock last night. This was due to a combination of several factors, but the forecast of bad weather prevented greater evils. In the end, the ship was moored at the Port of Ibiza’s Levante dock, next to the old containment dock, after one o’clock in the morning.
The Head of Salvamente Marítimo on the Balearic Islands, Miguel Chicón, confirmed that it was necessary to bring forward the recovery of the ferry stranded on the islet of es Malví Pla last Saturday night when the boat was afloat and freed from the islet due to three main factors: the swell, the slight rise in sea level caused by the swell and because, after the removal of 17 tonnes of fuel from its tanks the ferry was ‘lightened’. “ The ship freed itself. It was as simple as that”. It was about ten o’clock at night and action had to be taken. There were three hours of hard work left.
“As soon as it was free we started to tow its bow and immediately the ‘R Sofia’ took it to shelter, between es Malvins and the island of Rats”
“As soon as the ferry was free”, says Chicón, “we started to tow its bow and immediately the ‘SAR Sofia’ took it to shelter, between es Malvins del Norte and the island of Rats”. Once the ship was protected from the inclement weather, the professionals hired by the FRS shipping company carried out “an exhaustive inspection of everything; it was checked tank by tank to ensure that they were OK and not taking on water, as they had been”.
It was then, almost three hours later, that permission was requested from both the Maritime Captaincy and the Balearic Islands Port Authority to “bring the ship into port”, where it has been moored on the piers of the Levante dock, next to the old wall.
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