The Bahamian flagged ship Fas Provence sunk early this morning 80.97 nautical miles south east of Delimara, Transport Malta said.
It said in a statement it was closely monitoring developments. The ship sunk at 4 a.m. in a depth of 300 metres within international waters covered by the service area of the Malta Coast Radio Station, operated by the AFM.
The AFM has been following the troubled towing operation of the unmanned 130-metre container ship for some days. The ship, which was not carrying any cargo, was being towed by two tugs.
Due to the recent gale force winds, the vessel posed a serious hazard to navigation and regular broadcasts were transmitted alerting ships in the central Mediterranean of the hazard.
Yesterday, the master of the former tug informed Malta Radio that the ship's condition was deteriorating fast with the vessel listing to one side and taking in water.
The AFM communicated the information to TM and deployed an aircraft to make a reconnaissance flight and assess the situation. All the necessary alerts were raised. Transport Malta and the AFM are in liaison to monitor the situation for any possible pollution.
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