A bulk carrier carrying 55,000 tons of cargo hit a reef in the Putian waters

At 4:15 pm on October 03, the Fuzhou-registered cargo ship "Zhongan X" carrying 55,000 tons of machine-made sand was sailing on its way  from  Quanzhou northward, hitting a reef at 4.4 nautical miles south of Nanri Island and flooding. The ship tilted to the left and tilted 8-10 degrees. There are 23 crew members on board, and the situation is very critical.

After receiving the report of the danger, the Putian Maritime Safety Administration immediately launched an emergency response plan for maritime search and rescue,guided the ship's emergency plugging and drainage work. After full communication with the ship, the ship is in a stable and navigable state and there is no need to abandon the ship.

The command center of the bureau immediately verified the situation with the ship’s personnel, and instructed the ship to take effective measures to maintain the balance of the ship, required the ship’s personnel to wear life jackets and implemented leak-stopping, drainage, and oil spill prevention measures by using oil booms and oil absorbent pads.

The bureau contacted the Nanri Maritime Department as soon as possible and dispatched the "Hai Xun 08528" ship to the waters where the incident occurred, carried out inspections on the accident ship and surrounding waters, and implemented tasks such as guarding, guarding, and traffic diversion.

Due to the high wind and severe waves that day, gusts reached level 8, and the wave height was 4 meters, the incident water area was close to the open sea and the road was far away. However, maritime personnel overcame the influence of the bad weather, braved the wind and waves without fear of difficulties, and arrived at the rescue site 50 minutes later.

The ship tilted 7 degrees to the left and stabilized, and the endurance was gradually restored. In accordance with the maritime professional guidance, the ship changed its original plan for emergency rescue in the waters east of Nanri Island and went to anchorage at No. 1 anchorage in Meizhou Bay. During the voyage, the “Haixun 08528” ship has been escorting nearby. The command center of the bureau set up a VTS (Vessel Traffic Management Service System) monitoring window, broadcast navigation warnings, real-time grasp the dynamics of the accidental ship, cleared the anchorage in advance and set aside an anchorage . The accident ship safely arrived at Meizhou Bay No. 1 anchorage at 11:15 that night and dropped anchor.
 
The command center arranged a special team to monitor the accidental ship, informed the ship to strengthen watchkeeping, regularly monitored the water level of each cabin, the draught on six sides and the ship's inclination, and formulated subsequent risk elimination and disposal plans. At the same time, they guided the shipowner to contact professional salvage companies to carry out underwater exploration and other work, to find out the damage of the hull, and to provide data and technical support for subsequent disposal.
 
At around 1 p.m. on the 4th, under the full coordination and rescue of the bureau, the accident ship was berthed at Quangang Xiaocuo Wharf with safe people and cargo and started unloading operations.