Oil stored in side tanks of the Cypriot vessel Wilson Muuga, that stranded off the coast of Iceland before Christmas, began this morning after several delays.
The pumping of about 100 tons of oil out of tanks on the ship and into trucks on land was scheduled to begin yesterday afternoon and to take 12 hours. Fréttabladid reports.
But, according to rúv.is, technical difficulties hindered the operation yesterday, and therefore the oil pumping could not begin until this morning.
Eight experts have been aboard the vessel since yesterday. Stefán Einarsson of the Environment and Food Agency in Iceland said the oil pumping is going well.
The beach near Sandgerdi in southwest Iceland, off which the vessel is stranded, is not polluted, but there is an oil slick on the ocean surface.
After the oil pumping is finished, the next step will be dismantling the vessel and taking its parts away.
