Thursday, 2 January, 2003, 15:36 GMT
'Human error' inquiry into ship crash
The Vicky is being inspected for damage
An investigation is under way to find out if human error may have caused a ship carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable oil to became the second vessel to collide with the Channel wreck of the Tricolor.
The Vicky, which was on its way to New York, got stuck on the car transporter for several hours on New Year's Day, before managing to float away.
The Tricolor has been struck twice since sinking
The maritime union has said it is concerned "Russian roulette" is being played with safety in the channel.
The Tricolor originally sank with its cargo of 3,000 cars after being hit in thick fog by the cargo freighter Kariba on 14 December. It was hit two days later by the ship the Nicola.
An underwater survey was due to be carried out on the Turkish-registered Vicky on Thursday to determine if any kerosene fuel was leaking from the tanker, which is reported to be listing.
Adequate warnings
Watch officer Peter Legg, from Dover Coastguard, told BBC News the inquiry - headed up by the French authorities - would examine whether human error was involved in Wednesday's collision.
But he defended the actions taken to warn other ships about the wreck.
"There is a possibility that this could happen again but at the present moment we have done all we can to make this wreck obvious to the mariner," he said.
Wednesday's incident has raised further questions about whether warnings to passing ships about the wreck in one of the world's busiest shipping channels are adequate.
Buoys and emergency guardships remain in place around the wreck of the Tricolor and hourly radio warnings are being broadcast to shipping.
In December, the Tricolor was hit by the 3,000 tonne ship the Nicola, two days after it sank.
Concern was raised then about whether adequate warnings about the wreck were in place.
Maritime union NUMAST warned ship owners were cutting crew levels and demanding excessive working hours.
Union spokesman Andrew Linington said he was "appalled" to hear about the latest incident.
He said 90% of such incidents were the result of the human factor.
"There is a constant drive to reduce crewing levels and people can be working 80 to 90 hours a week on busy waterways like these".
BBC transport correspondent Simon Montague said it was feared there would be a repeat of 1971 when a sunken tanker off Folkestone was hit by two ships, which in turn sank themselves with the loss of dozens of lives.
The Vicky, built in 1981, is a single-hulled, double bottomed vessel - meaning it has an extra layer of metal around the base of the hull.
The 243 metre-long, 43,000 tonne tanker was en route from Antwerp in Belgium to New York when it struck the Tricolor.