US oil tanker runs aground
2006-02-03 08:26
Anchorage - A United States tanker carrying 16.5 millions litres of oil and fuel ran aground off the Alaskan coast on Thursday, but there were no reports of an oil spill, said the US coast guard.
The double-hulled Seabulk Pride ran aground off the Kenai Peninsula after it was struck by a fast-moving ice floe, while loading fuel at a refinery and ripped free of its moorings.
Chief Petty Officer Eric Chandler said: "It ran hard aground a little bit after 05:00 this morning. It's fully loaded, but as far as we know it is not leaking any fuel at this time."
The impact of the ice floe tore the vessel free of its moorings and sent it drifting about 800 metres into Cook Inlet, a famed spot for hunting and fishing, where it ran aground on a silt bank.
34-member crew 'not injured'
Chandler said that the 174-metre tanker was carrying 103 825 barrels, the equivalent of 16 500 tons of diesel fuel, bunker oil and other oil products.
He said that none of the 34-member crew was injured in the incident.
The only spillage was around five barrels (800 litres) of oil that leaked after the loading arm broke as the ship tore free. Chandler said: "It's not a very significant amount of oil that went into the water."
The dramatic incident, which took place as the vessel loaded in the port of Nikisi, in the Cook Inlet, about 280km southwest of Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, sent jitters through the region.
Environmental catastrophe
The Seabulk Pride, built in 1998, ran aground about 300km west of Prince William Sound, the scene of one the worst environmental disasters ever after the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on March 24 1989.
The Exxon Valdez was laden with 40 000 tons of crude oil after it hit a reef at night, unleashing an environmental catastrophe.
The disaster seriously damaged 150km of Alaskan coast and polluted 500km.
The corpses of 35 000 birds and more than 1 000 sea otters were found after the wreck, which scientists said was only a fraction of the animals touched by the spill.
Nearly 17 years after that disaster, the case was still dragging through US courts and a five billion dollar jury award against Exxon had not been paid.
Treacherous weather
The Alaska coast was notorious for its high seas and tough weather conditions that played havoc with shipping, especially during winter months.
The last major incident was in December 2004, after a Malaysian-flagged freighter ran aground off the Aleutian Islands, in treacherous weather, splitting in two.
Its cargo of up to 1.28 million litres of thick fuel oil spilled into a wildlife sanctuary in the Bering Sea after the accident that resulted in the deaths of six crewmen.
Coast guard officials said that two tugs were working on freeing the ship.
The Seabulk Pride's owners in the US state of Florida confirmed the vessel broke free from its moorings after being hit by floating ice as it was loading heavy vacuum gas oil and unleaded gasoline.
- AFP