European salvors Multraship Salvage and Svitzer Salvage combined forces in early February to refloat the Russian cargo vessel Irtysh 1 from a rocky coastline near the Bulgarian Black Sea  Port of Bourgas after the 2,913dwt 1996-built ship suffered a broken anchor chain and was pushed ashore by heavy winds.


At the time of the incident, the vessel, which operates a regular service between Greece and Romania, was sailing in ballast with only about 35 tons of fuel on board.


Four tugs from Multraship's recently-opened base at Bourgas and a salvage team from Svitzer were able to save the ship, which has since been redelivered to her owners following an inspection of the hull.