NATION : Tanker Spills Oil Into Channel
An oil tanker ran aground in a waterway between New York and New Jersey early today, rupturing its hull and leaking about 260,000 gallons of heavy oil into the shipping channel, the Coast Guard said.
The waterway was closed to marine traffic and oil was washing ashore.
The 811-foot tanker Nautilus ran aground at about 5:15 a.m. and began leaking No. 6 heating oil into the Kill Van Kull waterway. Oil was pumped out of the leaking tank, and the leak stopped by midmorning when the remaining oil fell below the rupture.
The tanker is owned by the British Nautilus Motor Tanker Co. of London.
The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill, a second shipping channel between New Jersey and Staten Island, N.Y., have been the scenes of several major oil spills this year.
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