The grounded Italian cargo ship, the Jolly Rubino, went into her final death throes on Saturday afternoon when a huge controlled explosion opened her up to the sea.
At precisely 1.15pm demolition experts triggered the blast from the Cape St Lucia lighthouse, blasting holes in the sides of the 31 000-ton
ro-ro (roll-on, roll-off) vessel.
The final chapter in the three month long Jolly Rubino saga will end early this week when the accommodation section and superstructure are set alight to make the ship unattractive to looters.
Saturday's spectacular explosion resulted in an almost immediate release of remaining sludge oil.
"Quite a bit of it is going out to sea, but some is coming into the bay at Cape St Lucia. The wind is right for us and there is no threat at all to St Lucia Estuary (about 14km away)," said KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife spokesman Jeff Gaisford.
He said the oil spillage was being closely monitored by the department of environment affairs and tourism's Kuswag 1 (Coast Watch 1) oil pollution abatement vessel and the Kuswag 7 patrol aircraft.
"The fact that the environmental problems associated with the Jolly Rubino have been so minimal is a tribute to the salvors, Smit Salvage. I am impressed with the way they have handled the whole salvage operation, which has been on the go without respite since the vessel ran aground in mid-September."
On hand to witness the event was Alessandro Prunas of the Italian consulate in Durban who said he, too, was impressed by Smit's oil recovery operation.
He said the Messina shipping line had done all it could to prevent a major incident on the Zululand coast.
American demolition expert Gary DeMarsh, director of Demex explosive products and services, said 2 850kg of locally-sourced explosives had been used to blast the ship.
Soon after the initial bang, a huge pall of black smoke rose from the wreck and drifted high above the dunes and coastal forests, carried by a light north-easterly wind. The weather was ideal for the meticulously planned operation, under the command of the salvage master, Capt Nick Sloane.
The purpose of the blasting was to open all tanks and spaces to sea to speed up degradation. About 700 tons of oil have been removed in the past 13 weeks in often appalling sea conditions.
"Although the Jolly Rubino incident is something we would rather had not happened, it had to be managed and was dealt with by capable people, and we have escaped an environmental disaster," Gaisford said.
"We look forward to closing this chapter."