A CONTROLLED dispersal has now begun of several thousand tons of chemicals from the wreck of a freighter that sank near Guernsey. The Ece went down in February while being towed to Le Havre following a collision with a cargo vessel in the shipping lanes 30 miles north-west of the island.

An Aberdeen-based salvage company specialising in underwater de-pollution operations has begun work, funded by the Turkish company that owned the vessel.

Over this week, Dronik Marine Consultants will release the remnants of 10,000 tons of phosphoric acid into the sea in what the French Government has claimed will be an operation posing no threat to the environment. But it has angered French environmentalists who claim the government is cutting costs by releasing the acid instead of recovering it.

Vigipol, a group which aims to protect French beaches and marine life, claimed the large amount of acid released in the same area would definitely have a negative effect on marine life.

Spokesman Robin du Bois said that it amounted to deliberate pollution.

But Manche Department marine prefect Edouard Guillaud claimed that laboratory tests and consultations with marine biologists and international scientists had approved the clean-up project.

‘In any case, there is nothing like the original 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid in the tanks of the Ece,’ he said.

‘One tank is completely opened, the other was severely damaged.’

Mr Guillaud is the man in charge of all French maritime activity in the English Channel and North Sea. He spent two days in Guernsey in July meeting the local authorities with which he liaises and at that stage he expressed his confidence in the operation.

The salvage team will also recover an estimated 40 tons of heavy fuel oil and 22 tons of engine oil which have remained in the ship’s tanks since it sank.

Two salvage vessels, the 82m Norma and a support ship, the Blue Castor, will use robot submarines and pumping equipment to carry out the work.

The wreck is lying in about 70m of water. Since it sank, the National Oceanography Centre has been assessing the possible impact on the environment.

Regular testing has shown no increases in phosphoric acid levels in the area, apart from next to the wreck.

The chemical is normally used as a fertiliser and initially there were fears it could cause long-term damage to the delicate ecosystem of the English Channel. But an impact study by French and UK maritime experts concluded that a controlled and programmed release would avoid any harmful impact.

The operation will be supervised by UK and French observers and the French Navy. Fishing is banned within 0.6 miles of the wreck until it is complete.