The bulk carrier Eleni M ran aground in Uruguay river near Nueva Palmira. The vessel was carrying 36,000 tons of soy beans en route from Recalda in Argentina to Las Palmas, but stuck into the river embarkment after losing propulsion power. The bulk carrier Eleni M hardly stuck and was not able to refloat by own power. The traffic in the Uruguay river is hampered, but two tugs were dispatched to perform salvage operation. After inspection of the vessel it was found that hull is breached and some of the ballast compartments are flooded. However, the vessel remain seaworthy and will be refloated at high tide.

The local authorities started investigation for the root cause of the accident. Fortunately during grounding there were no injured people an no water pollution. The salvage is expected to be done during the next hours. There is no big ques after hampered traffic.

The bulk carrier Eleni M (IMO: 9228033) has overall length of 190.00 m, moulded beam of 32.00 m and maximum draft of 8.30 m. The deadweight of the ship is 50,992 DWT and the gross tonnage is 28,718 GRT. The bulk carrier was built in 2001 by Oshima Shipbuilding in their shipyard in Saikai, Japan. The ship Eleni M is owned and operated by Greek shipping operator Eastern Mediterranean Maritime.