Durban — The stranded Italian ship, the Jolly Rubino, was not posing an environmental threat since no oil was leaking from it, the department of environmental affairs and tourism said on Monday.

The department said in a statement that its anti-pollution patrol aircraft, Kuswag VII, had reported that the beaches near the grounded ship were free of oil.

"No oil is reportedly emanating from the 'Jolly Rubino', therefore posing no environmental danger or threat."

The oil and fuel transfer from the stricken vessel continued on Monday and a further 40 tons of diesel was pumped to another ship.

The department said an estimated 200 tons of diesel still remained onboard the ship and would be transferred to a receiving vessel.

"The ship-to-ship oil transfer operation is expected to be completed by the end of the week, weather permitting."

Drums which were inside containers would also be taken from the ship from Tuesday. These drums were believed to still contain chemicals and would be handled according to strict safety and procedural guidelines.

Up to now the salvage teams concentrated on drums which were blown clear of containers during the onboard fire.

More than 300 empty drums were evacuated from the ship over the weekend and were being stored at a temporary site.

The department said conditions on the ship remained dangerous and appealed to the public not to try to get closer to the stranded vessel.

The master, officers and crew of the Jolly Rubino abandoned ship on September 10 after failing to extinguish an onboard fire. The fire spread throughout the vessel, causing extensive damage.

On September 12, the vessel drifted aground 1,2 nautical miles north-east of the Cape St Lucia lighthouse and some 300 metres from the shore.

The Jolly Rubino is an Italian flagged "roll-on/roll-off" vessel with a deadweight tonnage of 31262. She measures 190,5 meters in length and 28,5 meters in width.