The World : Ships Collide Off Britain

An oil tanker and a Polish ship collided in the English Channel, prompting a major pollution alert when the tanker caught fire and began spilling oil. But firefighters brought the blaze under control, and the French coast guard said the spill was from the tanker’s fuel supply and not its cargo of 137,000 tons of crude oil. The British coast guard said no one was injured on either vessel. It said the 67,239-ton tanker Skyron, registered in Liberia, collided with the 7,704-ton Polish freighter Hel, carrying a cargo of barley, in mist 25 miles off the British port of Ramsgate.