“The operation to pump water from the vessel’s lower car decks removed about 800t of clean water,” the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said in an update.

The operation continued on Sunday, but progress was slower as divers had to reposition pumps to ensure only clean water was discharged.

Svitzer plans to pump around 3,000t of water out of the Hoegh Osaka as part of the initial phase of the salvage operation.

“The