STOCKHOLM, Nov 1 — Sweden’s coast guard said today that a salvage operation had been started for a passenger ferry that ran aground in October causing a large oil spill.

The Marco Polo ferry, operated by TT-Line, ran aground south of the southern city of Karlshamn on October 22, with the vessel’s 75 passengers safely evacuated.

It stayed still for days but then drifted off due to strong winds on Sunday and once again ran aground, causing more oil spills.

Around 7am (0600 GMT) on Wednesday a salvage operation was initiated after the inital plan had to be revised due to the ship moving.

"Shortly after 7am, the ship was dislodged and floated by itself but was connected to two towing vessels,” Valdemar Lindekrantz, press officer for the Swedish Coast Guard, told AFP.

During the morning the ship was slowly towed out to deeper water.

"The plan right now is to freeze the situation by anchoring the ship in deeper water to get a view of the hull and determining what damage the ship has sustained,” Lindekrantz said.

An analysis would also be carried out to determine which oil tanks that would be needed to be emptied before the ship could be towed to port in Karlshamn, though a time schedule had not been set.

"We want it to happen as quickly as possible, but with the right conditions,” Lindekrantz explained.

Sweden on Friday fined two crew members for "recklessness in maritime traffic”.

Yesterday, the coastguard said some 50 cubic metres (50,000 litres or 13,000 gallons) of oil and oil waste had been collected.

Swedish authorities said last week it could take as long as a year to completely clean up the spill. — AFP