Pipe Gouged Tanker in Oil Spill, Officials Say

A Greek tanker that spilled as much as half a million gallons of crude oil into the Delaware River last month apparently gashed its hull on a discarded pipe protruding from the river bottom, the Coast Guard said in Philadelphia.

Sonar located the 15-foot, U-shaped pipe. Investigators found gouges on it and traces of paint that matched the ship.

The rusty pipe, made of cast iron, stuck out about 3 feet from the river bottom and was about 700 feet from the water’s edge, roughly the same distance from land where the Athos I began gushing oil after an uneventful trip from Venezuela.