SCOTLAND, GLASGOW, OCTOBER 8 2010. ENGLISH CHANNEL COLLISION BENZENE TANKER BEING TOWED BY TUG

The YM Uranus struggles off the French Atlantic coast, 8 October The YM Uranus was bound for the Netherlands.

A chemical tanker which collided with a cargo ship off France's Brittany coast overnight is being towed to a French port, officials say. A French salvage team boarded the YM Uranus which was attached to a tug boat at 1100 French time (0900 GMT), the ship's operator told BBC News. None of the 6,000 tonne cargo of Heavy Pygas gasoline escaped, V Ships said. The tanker is said to have taken on water and the crew have been winched to safety by a French helicopter. It was said earlier to be listing badly to port after its collision with the Panamanian-flagged Hanjin Rizhao, 50 nautical miles (100km) south-west of the French island of Ouessant, which is at the mouth of the English Channel. The Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, with more than 400 vessels using it daily, and collisions continue to happen despite use of a radar-controlled traffic separation system. Heavy Pygas (pyrolysis gasoline) is a product of ethylene manufacturing and contains a large amount of the industrial solvent benzene.

'Favourable Situation'

Aude Flambard, a press officer at France's Atlantic Maritime Prefecture in Brest, confirmed to the BBC News website that the YM Uranus was under tow, and was not expected to reach port until the evening. We're in more of a favourable situation than an unfavourable one" She said the Hanjin Rizhao (initially identified by officials as the Hanjin Richzad) had proceeded on its way because it had not been damaged in the collision. Travelling from
Porto Marghera in Italy to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the YM Uranus collided with the Hanjin Rizhao in darkness, France's AFP news agency reports. The Hanjin Rizhao had been travelling between Las Palmas in Spain and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, reportedly with a cargo of steel. V Ships spokesman Pat Adamson told the BBC News website that the YM Uranus had been struck on the stern by the other, much larger ship. No Heavy Pygas had escaped, he said, adding that while the gasoline was flammable, it would quickly evaporate in the event of a spill. The 13-strong crew of the YM Uranus took to liferafts at around 0330 GMT, from which they were winched to safety by a French helicopter and taken to a military base south of Brest. Maritime officials quoted by AFP said the ship had taken in "large amounts of water". The French coastguard said later that they had started to pump some of the water out, and no pollution was visible. "We're in more of a favourable situation than an unfavourable one," maritime authority spokesman
Marc Gander told journalists in Brest. He estimated it would take the tug and the tanker between 12 and 13 hours to reach port.

'No Imminent Threat'

Peter Bullard from Falmouth Coastguard in the UK said no pollution had been reported.

It'd be foolish of me to say that pollution would never reach us but there's certainly no imminent threat" "There's certainly no imminent threat," he told BBC Radio Cornwall. "It'd be foolish of me to say that pollution would never reach us but there's certainly no imminent threat. And that's not our concern at the moment." Mr Bullard said the UK Coastguard's role at this stage was chiefly to assist their French colleagues. "But obviously, the environment is of interest to all of us whether it's the French coast or
ours," he added.

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