East London wreck gets ready for blast-off

Leonard Neill THE WRECK of the Sagitarius, the vessel that ran ashore south of East London during bad weather eight months ago, will shortly be blasted out of the water. Once paper work has been completed a former Port Elizabeth resident, Tinus Botha, will detonate the explosives that will remove the rusted skeleton from the skyline off Leaches Bay. Right now, however, Botha is racing against time to have the official documents in place for the blasting operation, while hoards of what he terms “scavengers’ are stripping steel, aluminium and copper from the vessel. The mission, he says, should be completed within three months. Once official approval has been granted, and the services of a registered blaster have been secured, the big explosion can take place before Easter. Two to three tons of explosives will be used which will break up the vessel completely. It is estimated there will then be 3000 tons of steel left which will be sold to a scrap metal dealer. At present anyone can salvage from the wreck, says Botha, but once official permission is granted - and this involves approval from environmental authorities as well - the road along Leaches Bay will be closed to the public until blasting has been completed. Insurance on the remains of the vessel expired three days before it landed on the rocks.