Ship aground as wild weather lashes Australia

SYDNEY (AFP) – Wild weather brought chaos to Australia’s east coast Friday, driving a huge freighter aground in tumultuous seas, sweeping cars into flooded rivers, disrupting flights and cutting power lines.

…The Filipino and Korean crew on board the 30,000-tonne coal carrier Pasha Bulker, which ran aground off Newcastle harbour north of Sydney, were winched from the deck one by one and flown ashore, officials said.

…The hull of the ship was intact and did not appear to be leaking any of its 700 tonnes of fuel oil but was “taking a pounding,” a spokesman for the New South Wales maritime authority told AFP.

“Pollution response teams are on stand by,” said chief executive Chris Oxenbould. “However, weather conditions are so bad that deploying any measures to combat potential pollution is not possible at this stage.”

AFP