A Greek tanker with jet fuel and a Cypriot container ship collided some 30 km off the Dutch coast at Scheveningen.

Peter van Oorschot, a spokesman for the Dutch Coast Guard, told Reuters the tanker Mindoro had been leaking highly inflammable jet fuel from a hole above the water line.

"The leakage has now stopped, they have pumped the fuel from a leaking compartment to another tank on board. What is left is a stream of fuel on the water and there is danger of explosion," Van Oorschot said. Oil is floating on the water over an area of 3 km to 0.5 km but an oil dispersion vessel at the scene said it was not needed to clean the oil as it would evaporate.