MSC Napoli split in two

Explosives have been used on a stricken container ship off the coast of Devon.

Charges were used on the MSC Napoli, which is grounded near Sidmouth, Devon.

The Salvage Marine Operations unit of the Ministry of Defence are helping with the operation to split the vessel in two.

Morgyn Davies, MoD Chief Salvage Officer, said: "The MCA has asked us to employ explosive cutting on the Napoli.

"The ship has a number of structural flaws that require strength members to be cut to release the hull into two parts.

"The idea is to operate explosives to cut in more of a surgical manner."

A 1,000 metre exclusion zone was placed around the ship and police closed a number of footpaths around the beach prior to the cutting charges being detonated.

Before the explosives were detonated, the vessel, which is half a mile out to sea, was split around her hull just forward of the accommodation block, and only her deck plates were holding her together.

The explosives later separated the deck plates.

An MCA spokesman said: "They went off with quite a bang. There was a plume of white smoke and then the noise echoed all around the bay."

The MCA warned that residual oil could be released when the ship parted.

Last Monday the Napoli was floated from a position a mile offshore where she had rested on the seabed since January 20.

The vessel was re-grounded on Thursday after divers found hull cracks up to 3m wide which would make it impossible to tow her.

Residual oil ended up on the tide line at nearby Branscombe beach, and a number of sea birds were affected.

Around 200 tonnes of oil leaked from the vessel when she was first grounded in January amid fears she could sink after her hull cracked in a Channel storm off Cornwall two days earlier.

She was en route from Antwerp to South Africa when her 26 crew abandoned ship and were flown to safety.

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