Oil from a Turkish bulk carrier that ran aground three years ago off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa’s prime tourist city, was spilling onto two beaches, officials said.

Investigations on Saturday showed the vessel had disintegrated into three pieces, Cape Town city disaster management spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes said.

“It is believed the rough seas and high spells that were experienced yesterday (Friday) … resulted in the movement of the vessel and caused the oil spill from the vessel,” he said.

Aerial investigations “established that a thick layer of bunker oil has washed ashore and that large quantities of oil is still in the water in the vicinity of the SELI 1 vessel that ran aground on 07 September 2009,” he said.