Salvage of Oil Barge to Take Several Days
Divers will try to salvage a sunken barge laden with 300,000 gallons of fuel by lifting it off the sea bed with a crane, turning it right side up underwater, and pumping out the fuel so the vessel can be refloated, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.
Authorities said salvage operations would begin today when a derrick barge arrives, and the operation will take several days to complete.
Some 46,000 gallons of the heavy fuel spilled from an open hatch on the vessel when it capsized and sank Sunday in 130 feet of water off Sannon Point in the Rosario Strait near Washington’s San Juan Islands.
Authorities said salvage operations, hampered by strong ocean currents, must be undertaken carefully to avoid spilling the remaining fuel.
None of the heavy oil already spilled has turned up on the surface or on beaches so far. Tests indicate that it either has sunk to the bottom in small globules or drifted with swift underwater currents in the strait.
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