A tanker carrying 10,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid has sunk, a day after a collision with a freighter in the English Channel.

The Ece had been listing heavily after Tuesday's collision but there had been plans to tow it to Le Havre.

Twenty-two crew members were rescued after it collided with the freighter General Grot-Rowecki, near Guernsey.

French and British maritime authorities have so far ruled out any risk of large-scale ocean pollution.

They have activated an emergency accident plan and imposed a one-mile exclusion zone with warning signs pointing out the wreckage to other vessels.

Mark Clark, of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, said UK officials would visit the French rescue headquarters at Cherbourg later on Wednesday to assess whether anything could be salvaged.

Surveillance aircraft will also try to determine whether the acid has spilled into the sea.

But even if it has, there will be little long-term environmental damage, experts say.

The Ece sank at the site of the collision, in 70m (230ft) of water.

Falmouth Coastguard said it had a 5m (16ft 4in) hole below its waterline.

The tow operation had been halted late on Tuesday near the Channel Islands as it was thought "too dangerous" to continue after dark.

The alarm had been raised at about 0220 GMT on Tuesday when the vessels collided about 30 miles north-west of Guernsey.

Twelve people were rescued by the coastguard helicopter based at Lee-on-Solent and another 10 by the St Peter Port lifeboat from Guernsey.

Side-on collision

The Maltese-registered carrier, carrying 26,000 tonnes of phosphorus, was only slightly damaged.

All crew members of the Ece, including one woman, were taken to a reception centre in Guernsey where they were reported "safe and well".

Coastguards said it was too early to say what had caused the accident.

But a crew member said the side-on collision had happened as the ships ran parallel to each other.

Shipping lanes

The vessels had collided outside the traffic separation scheme, a stretch of water in the middle of the Channel.

The scheme allows for the separation of ships in two lanes travelling north east and south west.

French fishing trawler Kleine Familie sank early this month, with the loss of five crew members, after colliding with a cargo ship in the same sector of the English Channel.

About 500 vessels every day pass through the Channel, one of the busiest of its kind in the world.

PHOTO CAPTION

The 8,003 ton (8,131 tonne) chemical tanker ECE (L) lists in the Channel between France and Britain, January 31, 2006, after an overnight collision with the bulk carrier General Grot-Rowecki. (REUTERS)