Click to view full size

A car­go ves­sel ground­ed off Monos Is­land is said to be leak­ing hy­dro­car­bons in­to the wa­ters of the Ch­aguara­mas Basin, rais­ing fears of en­vi­ron­men­tal dam­age and threats to liveli­hoods.

The Hein (IMO 6702284), car­ry­ing a load of bricks, re­port­ed­ly ran aground ear­ly yes­ter­day morn­ing af­ter its car­go shift­ed, desta­bil­is­ing the ship.

En­vi­ron­men­tal group Fish­er­men and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) has is­sued an ur­gent call for state agen­cies to ac­ti­vate the Na­tion­al Oil Spill Con­tin­gency Plan. They warned that hy­dro­car­bons are leak­ing from the ship’s bilge in­to sur­round­ing wa­ters.