The operation to salvage a Myanmar-flagged freighter, grounded on a coral reef in the Mu Ko Surin National Park in the Andaman Sea, began on Saturday, with salvage teams attempting to raise the half-sunken vessel from the coral reef.
A hundred 200-litre tanks, filled with water, were tied to the base of the tail section of the freighter, “MV AYAR LINN”, which ran aground on June 1st.
Explaining the salvage process, a park official said air will now be pumped into the tanks, to displace the water, which will help to lift the vessel clear of the reef.
The official said that the vessel has started to move, but is not yet afloat, adding that, yesterday, more tanks and lift bags were attached to lift it off the reef.
Officials from the national park, the National Marine Park Operations Centre in Phuket, the Conservation Area Administration Office in Nakhon Si Thammarat and a professor from Phuket Rajabhat University are involved in the salvage operation.
Meanwhile, another team has been assessing the condition of the corals and are trying to rehabilitate those damaged by the vessel. An initial assessment by divers indicates that the damaged corals include the Acropora spp, the Porites rus, the Heliopora sp and Porites lutea.
The park official said that damage to the corals under the keel of the vessel cannot be assessed until the vessel is raised, adding that some of the corals will heal themselves naturally.
Another team, he continued, has been engaged in collecting garbage, car tires, cardboard and paper, which spilled from the vessel into the sea.
