1.
AERIAL VIEW GIANT TANKER OLYMPIC BRAVERY
0.22

2.
GV PAN OLYMPIC BRAVERY
0.34

3.
CU SIGN 'OLYMPIC BRAVERY'
0.35

4.
SV PULL BACK STERN OF OLYMPIC BRAVERY PAN ALONG TANKER
0.40

5.
AERIAL VIEW OLYMPIC BRAVERY
1.00



Initials RH/1600 RH/TA/AH/1618



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The owners of the supertanker Olympic Bravery are fighting doggedly to save the 275,000 ton vessel from becoming the World's most expensive wreck.

Olympic Bravery has been pinned on sharp rocks off the north Atlantic Island of Ushant near France's Brittany cost since January 24. Its engine room is flooded, most of its 24 tanks are holed and it is listing at about five degrees.

The Olympic Bravery is insured for a record 50 million US dollars (25 million pounds sterling) nearly twice the amount for the costliest ship loss so far - the Norwegian tanker Berge Istra, which blew up in the Pacific last December.

One salvage firm has already given up the effort, now the owners, the Greek Chassis group, have called on Norwegian and Swedish salvage companies, but a spokesman for the French salvage company which abandoned the project commented, "It'll be a vast job trying to save it. Considering the state it's in, is it worth it?"
SYNOPSIS: The Supertanker Olympic Bravery aground on sharp rocks off the French coast near Brittany in the north Atlantic may well become the World's most expensive wreck. On Wednesday the tanker had been aground for almost two weeks. Its engine room is flooded, most of its tanks are holed and it is listing at about five degrees.

The tanker is insured for a record fifty million dollars - nearly twice the amount for the costliest ship lost so far, the Norwegian tanker Berge Istra, which blew up in the Pacific in December.

A French salvage firm has already given up but the owners, the Greek Onassiss group, have called on Norwegian and Swedish salvage companies to save the Olympic Bravery. A spokesman for the French company said it would have been a vast job and considering the state the ship was now in he did not believe it was worth the effort.