Volkswacht Bodensee - Ship carrying diesel fuel sinks off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands

The state-run oil company Petroecuador said the vessel went down off the island of Santa Cruz, without specifying how much diesel it was carrying or how much may have spilled.

Galapagos National Park confirmed the sinking of the ship called the Albatroz.

As part of an emergency plan, containment booms have been set up around the area of the accident in an effort to control the spill, the company said.

The four crew members on the ship are safe, it added.

Located in the Pacific about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Ecuador, and famous for their giant tortoises, the Galapagos are a protected wildlife area and home to unique species of flora and fauna.

The archipelago was made famous by British geologist and naturalist Charles Darwin's observations on evolution there.

The Galapagos marine reserve, in which industrial fishing is prohibited, is the second-largest in the world. More than 2,900 marine species have been reported within the archipelago, which is a Natural World Heritage Site.

M.Furrer--BTB