UMM AL QUWAIN // Authorities have begun the latest in a series of attempts to salvage the White Whale, the tanker that sank off Umm Al Quwain several months ago.
Sultan Alwan, the assistant undersecretary for external audit at the Ministry of Environment and Water, said yesterday that salvaging work had already started and would take another four or five days to complete.
A number of previous attempts to salvage the wreck ended in failure but Mr Alwan said he was confident the latest effort would succeed.
"Dubai Ship Building, the company contracted by the ministry to do the salvaging work, is an experienced company committed to removing the ship without any leakages that would cause pollution and damage marine life," he said. "The reason for the earlier delays were just based on the unstable bad weather that brought high waves."
The ship was carrying several hundred tonnes of diesel when it sank 11 nautical miles off the UAQ coast on October 22.
The ship lies water about 30 metres deep.