An oil tanker - the Xelo - carrying 750 tons of diesel fuel sank off the coast of the Gabes, Tunisia , after being blocked due to sea conditions. The crew had been evacuated, but an environmental disaster is now feared. Local authorities announced it.

"The ship sank this morning in Tunisian territorial waters. For the moment there are no losses", the local authorities assured.

Even the Tunisian minister of the environment, Leila Chikhaoui, in an interview on national television spoke of "the situation currently under control".

The Tunisian authorities, the minister assured, immediately activated an emergency plan in order to avert an environmental disaster for the entire region. Chikhaoui then explained that the "installation of anti-pollution barriers around the sinking area, with the planned pumping of fuel oil and inspection by divers of the state of the hull".

"There are minimal losses that are not even visible to the naked eye, so there shouldn't be a disaster in the Gulf of Gabes," said Mohamed Karry, spokesman for the Gabes court, in which an investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the accident.

(Unioneonline / lf)