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Workers Free Ship Stuck on Coral Reef

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Salvage experts successfully floated the 600-foot container ship Houston off a patch of sand and coral, where it had been stuck for nearly six days, a Coast Guard spokesman said. None of the freighter’s 810,000 gallons of fuel was spilled, according to the Coast Guard. The ship, which ran aground 13 miles southeast of Key West in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, was being towed to a safe anchorage site less than 2 miles away. Salvage experts pumped 540,000 gallons of fuel into a barge to lighten the ship’s load. The ship got stuck on the coral after suffering navigation problems.

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