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Tanker polluted North Sea

On Feb 15, 2013, at 02:15 a.m. officers of the Water Police Stade boarded the "Cevdet A" in the port of Bützfleth/Stade to ensure compliance with international environmental regulations. During the investigations on board it was found out that from Feb 13 to 14 the ship was found that the ship had disposed of 429 liters of pure sodium hydroxide in the German Bight. First, the ship was had received a part of its cargo on Bützfleth when the Sender of the Charge noted it was being contaminated by tank residues. The loading opeation was stopped, and the ship had to temporarily store the contaminated cargo on board. During the cleaning of the tanks the sodium hydroxide remained which was illegally pumped off the ship in a range of 30 to 40 miles northwest of Heligoland in the North Sea. The chemical has a toxic effect in tidal waters and is considered to be hazardous to water. To secure the criminal proceedings the Turkish captain and the Chief Officer had to pay a safety deposit of 8800 Euro.