A ship carrying 47 diesel barrels sank off the coast of one of Ecuador’s ecologically sensitive Galapagos Islands on Saturday.
The ship, called Albatroz, went down near the island of Santa Cruz, according to the state-run oil company Petroecuador.
The company said a contingency plan had been activated, with containment booms set up around the site of the sinking.
On board the scuba diving vessel were 47 barrels of diesel fuel that left a ‘superficial’ slick, according to the Ecuadorian Environment Ministry.
All four of the crew members escaped the wreckage safely, Petroecuador added.
On Twitter, the Galapagos National Park’s official account said a dispersing agent had been used to ‘limit possible negative impacts on the environment’.
According to the tweet, attempts were being made to drag Albatroz back up to the surface.
The UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, renowned for its giant tortoises, is remarkable for being the only place on Earth that thousands of species call home.