In a message received by the Danube River Basin Directorate (DRBD) from the Romanian side through the Emergency Warning System of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (AEWS – ICPDR), the results from chemical analyses of the water quality of the Danube River in the area of the sunken barge on the territory of the town of Zimnich, Romania, were provided.

The presented results are from testing water at three points - near the barge, downstream and upstream, for the following indicators: active reaction (pH), electrical conductivity, calcium, magnesium, ammonium, nitrates, nitrites, and phosphorus as orthophosphates.

When comparing the results from the three sampled points with the surface water quality standards for river type R 6 - middle and lower Danube, no deviations from the norms for good status were found for the analyzed indicators. An exception was found in the measured concentrations of the indicator phosphorus as orthophosphates, which exceed the norm for good status.

In addition, an analysis of the obtained data was carried out in relation to the monitoring data available in the DRBD at a point of the national monitoring network for the Danube River after the town of Svishtov. The analysis of the results shows that the reported concentrations of the considered indicators are comparable and in similar ranges with those registered at the point of the national monitoring.

In a subsequent message from the Romanian side, it was stated that "the intention to send a rescue ship to pull out the flooded barge has been canceled due to technical problems, stronger current, and increased flow of Danube waters."

The signal about the Romanian-flagged ship stranded on a sandbank in the area of Port Zimnich, loaded with approximately 1540 tons of fertilizer, was received by the DRBD at 12:16 p.m. on January 13. Sampling of the Danube River in the area of the sunken ship was promptly commissioned by the regional laboratories of the Executive Environment Agency (EEA) in Veliko Tarnovo and Ruse.

An on-site inspection was carried out by experts from the DRBD, in the presence of representatives of the Municipality of Svishtov, the Directorate "River Supervision - Ruse" at the Executive Agency of Maritime Administration and the External Environmental Agency. An inspection and tour of a section of the Danube River from river kilometer 554 to river kilometer 542 was carried out with a border police boat. EEA employees sampled surface waters from 9 points along the entire length of the section, and for each point an express analysis was conducted on the indicators pH, temperature, electrical conductivity and dissolved oxygen.

In the entire inspected section, as well as immediately next to the sunken barge, no visible pollution of the waters of the Danube River was observed - there was no change in color, no specific smell or visible film. No dead fish were found.

On the same day, EEA employees took water samples and an express analysis of the state of the waters was conducted at three points of the section before the city of Ruse.

The currently available data from the express analyses performed do not show deviations from the norms for good water status.

The Danube Region Basin Directorate will release information in a timely manner upon receiving the results of the tests of the water samples taken.