KAI XIN

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

No fear of oil spill as fuel was consumed by fire

The cause of the fire on the "Kai Xin" is still being investigated by the ship's parent company, which specializes in deep-sea fishing. There was no fear of a significant oil spill as the fire appears to have burned up any fuel that could have caused a Spill according to Captain Juan Villegas, maritime governor for Chile's portion of Antarctica. The "Laurato" of Chile's navy was searching for the ship's remains and still stood ready to contain any spilled fuel on Apr 23.

Damaged fish factory sank off King Georg Island

The "Kai Xin" has sunk on Apr 21. The "Skyfrost" initially accompanied the wreck in the Bransfield Strait west of the Antarctic Peninsula. When the supply ship had to refuel from another vessel, the "Kai Xin" was lost out of sight. Despite a thorough search, they could not locate the damaged trawler since. Bad weather prevented a reconnaissance flight from the Chilean Antarctic base Presidente Frei. The "Kai Xin" was last observed at 60 kilometers northeast of the Shetland Island King George. The Chinese trawler "Fu Rong Hai" confirmed the loss of radar contact of the "Kai Xin" and found rafts and fishing nets in the area. At 1.15 p.m. the Chilean Navy ordered the "Fu Rong Hai" to stay on site until 8:30 p.m. when the tug "Lautaro" of the 3rd Naval Zone reached the position 120 kilometers east of the Naval Base Arturo Prat. The tug was staffed by the Gobernación Marítima in Punta Arenas and was equipped with material needed to combat oil pollution.

Fire out, wreck adrift

The fire on the "Kai Xin" was out on Apr 21, but the gutted ship was still slowly drifting in northeastern direction towards the open sea. On Apr 20 the fish factory was 32 miles off the Fildes Bay and 22 miles from the coast of King George Island in position 62 ° 35.880 S 58 ° 08 468' W. The Chilean Navy, supported by the Air Force, was monitoring the drift with a Twin Otter aircraft of the Antarctic Exploration Group of the IV. Air Brigade, and with different satellite systems of the naval Servicio de Búsqueda y Salvamento Marítimo. Spanish and German reports with photos: http://prensaantartica.wordpress.com/ http://www.stern.de/panorama/havarierter-trawler-vor-antarktiskueste-brennt-nicht-mehr-2000321.html