Teams Move To Secure Ship Before Next Storm Coast Guard Seeks To Unload 165,000 Gallons Of Fuel

Sat., Nov. 29, 1997

Associated Press Dutch

Salvage teams tried to work ahead of a storm Friday and stabilize a fuel-laden Japanese freighter that was blown aground by wind gusts of up to 100 mph.

Two people died when the freighter ran aground in this Aleutians port Wednesday, a crew member who may have fallen into a hatch and another who apparently had a heart attack.

As much as 12,000 gallons of bunker fuel - which is heavier than regular fuel and easier to clean up - leaked from a ruptured tank on the freighter, the Coast Guard said. About 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of that washed ashore and tainted an inland lake.

Worried that the oncoming storm will further damage the ship, the Coast Guard wants to stabilize the vessel and unload the 165,000 gallons of fuel still on board.

“It’s hard aground 150 yards from shore,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Ray Massey said Friday. “It’s rolling and yawing slightly in the surf.”

Dutch Harbor, a commercial fishing hub, is about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands.

After the ship ran aground Wednesday, rescuers brought 16 crew members and the two dead men ashore amid high winds and snow. Fifteen rescuers suffered from mild exposure and frostbite.

The 368-foot bulk carrier, which had pulled anchor to seek a safer spot in the storm, was trapped by 15-foot seas and driving winds. The ship drifted about a mile and possibly struck submerged rocks before coming to rest on a beach.

A private salvage company has been hired by the ship’s owners, who also have accepted responsibility for pollution cleanup.

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