[5][6] Shortly after the explosion, Smit Tak, a Dutch marine salvage company, was engaged to recover Khark 5.
[1][7] French environmental minister Brice Lalonde later said that the operation had also been delayed during this time while Smit Tak negotiated with the Iranian state-owned oil company over payment for their services.
[1] During the first days of January, several hundred responders from Morocco and Europe used chemicals to break apart the slick, laid barriers to stop the spread, and pulled oil from the water.
[4][3] By 3 January, Smit Tak had taken Khark 5 in tow, and had brought her about 110 miles (180 km) off the Moroccan coast, bound southwest towards calmer seas.
[5][7] The company's workers finally sealed the hull breach after an estimated 70,000 tons of oil had spilled from the tanker.