Vessel capsizes, spills containers at Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Port

Over 600 containers fell into the sea after a foreign-flagged vessel capsized and sank in the Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan on Thursday, July 20.

The captain of the Palau-flagged Angel had earlier alerted port authorities at around 09:30 local time on Thursday to say that his vessel suffered water ingress and was starting to list to port.

The list worsened until the vessel finally ended up on its side hours later, prompting the 19-strong crew to evacuate via lifeboats. Witnesses said that only the ship’s bow remains above the surface.

The Kaohsiung Port Authority said that the containers that ended up in the water hindered vessel traffic in the port, forcing the temporary closure of two of its entrances. The affected entrances were re-opened to traffic by 12:00 on Friday, July 21.

No oil spills have been detected, though the port authority has requested the vessel’s owner to provide salvage and oil removal plans.

Other vessels are meanwhile monitoring the surrounding waters for possible pollution from both the sunken ship and the fallen containers.