Starting from the early hours of the morning of June 20th, along the gulf of Palermo, on the initiative of the coast guard and in concert with the navy, a the operation “Pollex 2024”, a complex exercise aimed at testing the response to a pollution emergency at sea. Coordinated by the coast guard, the exercise saw the involvement of various forces in an action to test the operational machine and the coordination capacity between the subjects who intervene in emergency cases.
The exercise was characterized by a realistic scenario. An accident on board the “Wine Trader” tanker, hired specifically for the exercise, simulated the spill of diesel fuel at sea due to a fire that broke out on board and at the same time, an illness was simulated by a crew member involved in rescue operations.
The exercise
Immediately afterwards the alarm, issued by the operations room of the port master’s office, the local emergency plan was triggered. A deployment of forces, including the coast guard, firefighters, navy and tugboats, intervened to deal with the emergency.
“Operations focused on containing the stain polluting – declared Nicola Silvestri, head of the operations service of the maritime directorate of Palermo – in the clean-up operations, in addition to the “Castalia” vessel equipped with anti-pollution equipment, three patrol boats from the navy were also used”.
Through containment barriers, placed along the polluted area, it was possible stem the spread of the diesel stain, acting simultaneously with a purifier lowered by means of a crane, introduced into the polluting stain and used to purify the sea water.
The joint action of the Navy
The exercise also involved the joint action of the first naval patrol squadron. One of the first actions implemented by the crew members of the “Sirio” ship was the deployment of the barriers containment devices whose function is to limit the polluting stain, preventing its expansion.
At the same time, “Skimming discoil” systems were activated, capable of aspire and separate hydrocarbons from seawater, drastically reducing the environmental impact of the spill.
“In extreme ratio – declared Michele Angelicchio, commander of the offshore patrol vessel “Sirio” – we are ready to intervene with specific chemical substances which, dispersed over the scrub, accelerate its degradation, limiting damage to the marine ecosystem to a minimum”.
