The ship is scheduled to stand approximately five kilometers from the German coast until a decision on further action is taken.
11:04•Updated 11:19
The towing of the oil tanker that drifted near the German coast has been completed, says Der Spiegel.
The damaged oil tanker arrived in front of the German port of Sassnitz early on Sunday, pulled by three tugs.
On Saturday, the Eventin vessel, which had drifted off the island of Rügen since Thursday evening, was moved about 25 kilometers to the east, so that the ship would have more open sea around it in the event of a possible oil spill.
The ship was originally supposed to be towed near Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen. However, the sailing in the area was rough on Saturday morning, which is why it was decided to change the ship’s destination to Sassnitz, which is also located on the island of Rügen.
Stormy weather also slowed towing operations. The operation, estimated to last eight hours on Saturday, was completed only on Sunday.
Now the ship is standing about five kilometers from the coast, where it is supposed to remain until further actions are decided.
The unsteerable tanker is held in place by two tugboats.
The ship, which is officially on its way from Russia to Egypt, is probably loaded with 99,000 tons of oil.
According to German media reports, the ship is known to be part of the Russian shadow fleet. Russia tries to circumvent sanctions imposed by Western countries by selling oil with the help of a shadow fleet. Ships belonging to the shadow fleet are often in poor condition.
However, no oil has been found to have leaked into the water from the Eventin vessel so far.