After containers from a cargo ship recently washed up on Selsey beach, we look back at an older unusual spillage.
On December 7, 16 containers, mostly filled with bananas and other exotic fruit, fell overboard from a cargo ship off the Isle of Wight.
At least seven containers have subsequently washed ashore around Selsey and Bognor Regis.
The incident echoed a similar occurrence in January 2008, when the Greek-registered cargo ship, the MV Ice Prince, sank in the English Channel.
The ship sank about 26 miles off Dorset, spilling more than 2,000 tonnes of timber into the sea.
Much of it washed ashore along England's south coast, with Worthing beach in West Sussex particularly badly affected.
Timber was found on the coastline all the way from Ferring to Hastings.
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Beaches were closed indefinitely to prevent looters taking the washed-up timber, which was several feet deep on the tide line.
Significant numbers of people turned up to take advantage of the incident, including some who filled entire vans.
Sussex Police were forced to issue a warning, saying removing the timber was unlawful and people taking the wood could be prosecuted and arrested under the Merchant Shipping Act.
The Ice Prince sank with 313 tonnes of fuel oil aboard, although only a light sheen spread on the surface of the water, avoiding a potentially larger environmental catastrophe.
All 20 crew on board survived after being rescued by RNLI lifeboats and a helicopter.
The vessel has never been recovered and rests around 47 metres below the sea in the English Channel.
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