Sunken fishing boat to cost council £76k to remove

Cornwall Council said it has contracted a salvage company to remove Karina Olsen

A fishing boat that sank in a Cornish harbour is to be removed at a cost of £76,000.

Karina Olsen, which had been docked in Penzance Harbour for more than 20 years, sank earlier this month.

Cornwall Council has paid salvaging company Sam Gilpin Demolition Ltd to dispose of the former trawler, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Despite being surrounded by an oil boom, the council said some oil had escaped from the boat and had encouraged the owners to remove it from the harbour.

In January the council said it was seeking to remove the Karina Olsen from Penzance Harbour.

A spokesperson for the local authority said: “Cornwall Council can confirm an Environment Agency-approved contractor has been contracted to dispose of the vessel.”

The LDRS said the 17m (67ft) Danish-built vessel was bought in April and sold again in September, shortly before it took on water and sunk.

The Karina Olsen was originally a North Sea fishing vessel, then used for dive charters and survey work before she became a live-aboard boat while moored in Penzance.