GUERNSEY, England, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- French and British rescuers saved all 22 crew members from a chemical tanker and cargo ship that collided in the English Channel early Tuesday.
The tanker Ece was carrying 10,000 tons of phosphoric acid and was badly damaged after it collided with the cargo ship around 30 miles northwest of Guernsey around 2 a.m., The Telegraph reported.
Royal Air Force search and rescue teams and coast guard crews from France and England airlifted the crew members of both vessels to safety and they were taken to hospital in Guernsey with mild hypothermia.
While phosphoric acid was leaking into the sea from two or three of the Ece's 25 damaged compartments, Fred Caygill, of the Maritime Coastguard Agency dismissed fears of environmental damage.
"Phosphoric acid is a corrosive liquid which does not pose a pollution threat -- it has dissolved in the sea," he said.
The second ship was only slightly damaged in the collision, the report said.
