Abandoned cruise ship ocean dream sinks off Thailand

A cruise ship abandoned by its Chinese owner for over a year has capsized and is leaking oil off the port of Laem Chabang in Thailand.

The cruise ship Ocean Dream began sinking Saturday and came to rest half submerged in the Gulf of Thailand about two miles from the coast near the town of Si Racha.

Local media reports said that the cruise ship had been abandoned by its Chinese owner for over a year without crew or maintenance despite repeated requests by local authorities to remove the ship from Thai waters.

Video from an overflight of the capsized ship filmed over the weekend and posted on YouTube shows an oil slick extended several hundreds meters from the vessel.

An update from Thailand’s Marine Department said that windy weather on Sunday caused oil to escape boom that had been placed around the vessel and crews were working with skimmers and dispersants to cleanup the oil that has been released.



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