BLTA's oil tanker crashes off Egyptian coast

Thousands of barrels of crude oil spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after two oil tankers collided off the coast of Egypt, the Dow Jones Newswire reported on Sunday quoting one of the ship's operators.

The Singapore-registered M.T. Trijata, owned by Indonesia's PT Berlian Laju Tanker, lost 3,000 barrels of oil through a gash five meters above the water line, said GBLT Ship Management spokeswoman Allison Lim. The other tanker, U.S.-based Genmar Kestrel, lost 6,000 bbls of crude oil, Lim said.

Egyptian authorities were unaware of the spill, which happened in international waters, said Farouk Swailem, director of public relations at the Suez Canal Authority.

He said he didn't know if either of the ships would be brought to Egypt for repair.

The spill from the M.T. Trijata had been contained, but Lim couldn't confirm that the Genmar Kestrel's leak was under control.

A salvage crew would start clean up operations once permission is obtained from Egyptian maritime authorities, she said.

No injuries were reported in Friday's collision, 27 miles north of Port Said, near the Suez Canal.

The M.T. Trijata was on its way to China from Libya when the accident occurred.

GBLT is the Singapore-based arm of Indonesian ship operator Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk. (*)