After the Deep Horizon oil spill incident that occurred on 20th April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico- one of the biggest spills in history – David Letterman joked that the result was that “BP has put more birds in oil than Colonel Sanders at KFC!”
Sadly, although to a far smaller extent it appears that Owners and Insurers of the M.V. “AGIA ZONI”, a small tanker built in 1972 which sank in the Saronic Gulf on 9th September with 2500mts of fuel on board, have added to the breadth of Letterman’s joke.
As part of our firm’s on-going commitment to environmental protection in some of the most awe inspiring and clean waters in Europe; we attended the spill site on the south eastern side of the island of Salamis to assist and advise the locality in respect of the legal aspects of clean-up, the ecological damage, and the prospects of restitution in the area.
We are working in tandem with the Salamis Mayors’ office, the Clean-up companies that are on-site, and the Greek Ministry of Merchant Marine to resolve the plethora of issues that this unfortunate incident has created.
Obviously, the blame for the spill seems to be directed towards the M.V. “AGIA ZONI” – a vessel run by Fos Petroleum and owned by the Kountouris family.
The Vessel sank in calm seas and with very little explanation from the two crew members on board; the master and the chief engineer. Flag regulations however indicated that this vessel should have had a crew of 11 on board during service. This was not the case.
Notwithstanding aspects of the enormous liability which will surely be dealt with in the coming years, our firm’s primary concern is to assist the people of Salamis and the Western Saronic coastline to recuperate, both environmentally and economically, as quickly as possible from this spill.
Our solicitors were on site this week with the Deputy Mayor of Salamis to see the clean-up operation first hand. A photographic record of the scene is presented herewith.
We will continue to provide updates on our website in respect of all the operations taking place on Salamis following this sad incident”.
