Danish emergency response teams are fearful that the windmill installation barge Sea Worker, which overturned in the North Sea last week, may begin to leak some of the 178,000 litres of diesel fuel it has on board.

The barge overturned in the North Sea, just two kilometres off the coast of Jutland near Hvide Sande.

“We are very concerned about holes in the hull,” Kim Bjerg Vemmelund, the head of Brand og Redning MidtVest. “Our challenge is that the weather right now is still very windy, which would make it difficult to recover any oil that spills.”

No leaks yet
Vemmelund said that there is a salvage plan in place for the capsized vessel, but nothing can be done until the weather improves.

A German environmental plane flew over the area this morning to look for any signs of a fuel leak.

Some 15 people were evacuated last week when the Sea Worker ran aground after losing power while on the way to Esbjerg from Frederikshavn.