Efforts to raise a small sunken tanker that caused major environmental damage - by Greek standards - in the sea region off the greater Athens area are due to begin in the coming period.
The contractor (the Spanopoulos company) has been hired to raise the sunken Agia Zoni II and is also participating in efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Saronic Gulf and beaches on coastal southeast Athens and the island of Salamina.
The company has already notified the relevant shipping ministry of the salvage effort. Lifting the wreckage off the sea bed, which lies just off Salamina, in the narrow strait separating the island and the Greek mainland, is judged as imperative in order to prevent further oil and chemical spills, as well as to eliminate the maritime hazard entailed in the shipwreck.
In terms of a "silver lining" effect from the unprecedented Agia Zoni II incident, the shipping ministry recently announced the formation of a public authority for ports tasked with overseeing efforts to salvage other wrecks in Greek coastal waters, especially in the industrial district between the ports of Piraeus and Elefsina.
No less that 45 shipwrecks are mapped in the Gulf of Elefsina and off Piraeus, Greece's biggest and busiest commercial port.
