More Oil Is Feared Spilled
Days after violent storms forced cleanup crews to leave a freighter that split apart, a salvage team returned Thursday to find the bow section had sunk, likely spilling an additional 176,000 gallons of oil near an environmentally sensitive area of Unalaska Island.
Crews still plan to unload more than 80,000 gallons of fuel from tanks in the stern of the Selendang Ayu in the new year. But the three biggest tanks -- totaling 321,058 gallons of oil -- are believed to be ruptured and the fuel inside lost, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Sara Francis.
The ship was split in two after running aground Dec. 8 in the Aleutian Islands. The 738-foot freighter was carrying soybeans, 424,000 gallons of fuel oil and 18,000 gallons of diesel.
The bow section had been judged unsafe, and attempts to unload its fuel were halted until a salvage team could come up with a plan to recover that oil.
The ship ran aground near sensitive wildlife habitat. Forty oil-covered birds -- 20 alive and 20 dead -- and a dead sea otter have been recovered.
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