Emergency services with army backup have put in place floating barriers to contain a slick, enabling teams to reduce its area from 1,500 square metres (16,000 sq feet) to 1,000 square metres (10,750 sq feet) between Wednesday and Thursday, emergency service staff said. The rate of leakage had also reduced.

"At present, 35 tonnes of heavy fuel have been recovered from the area where the ship ran aground," said Environment Minister Nadhir Hamada.

The Al Amine, carrying 14 containers loaded with paper and metal, struck rocks off Ain Oktor, near Korbous, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Tunis during a storm on Tuesday when the engine broke down. The leaking fuel tanks contained 250 tonnes.

On Wednesday some 13 tonnes of oil leaked into the sea causing a slick some 1.5 kilometres (one mile) wide, but a civil defence official said the flow had slowed significantly by Thursday.

The official said clean-up operations and the refloating of the vessel, some 30 metres (100 feet) long and stranded on its side on a sandbank off the rocky coast, could take several days.

Hamada, also in charge of the country's body dealing with sea pollution, said seven Dutch specialists were on the scene to evaluate the damage and reduce the impact of the slick.

The Tunisian authorities were determined to mobilise all available resources, he said.

The Dutch team had carried out an inspection at the request of the Moroccan shipowner to seal the tank leaks. It had been impossible so far to access the damaged hull and the vessel would have to be towed to dock.

Hamada said operations would continue over the weekend to get a fuller picture of the situation both for environmental and legal purposes.

Officials said the crew, who were brought ashore to safety, had failed to raise the alarm in time after the breakdown, allowing the ship to drift on to the rocks.

The northeast Tunisian coast on the Mediterranean where the wreck happened is a popular holiday spot both for Tunisians and tourists, as well as a haunt of smugglers who deal in trying to get illegal migrants out of Africa and across the sea into Europe.

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