Story last updated at 8/20/2008 - 9:11 am
Salvage effort underway for sunken landing craft
Cause of sinking, amount of fuel spilled remain unknown
KETCHIKAN - A 52-foot landing craft remained capsized near a dock at Sportsman's Cove Lodge for most, if not all, of Tuesday.
An initial salvage plan called for raising the Saltery Provider at low tide Tuesday night at about 9:15 p.m., according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
It's unclear how much fuel had spilled since the landing craft, which was carrying a fuel truck, capsized and sank early Monday morning.
The Saltery Provider and fuel truck were carrying a combined total of about 5,900 gallons of diesel fuel, according to the Alaska Department of Conservation.
"The vessel is seeping fuel, but the tanker truck maintained integrity and has not leaked," the state Department of Environmental Conservation wrote in a report.
Sportsman's Cove Lodge is on the east coast of Prince of Wales Island at Saltery Cove, just off Skowl Arm.
The report said lodge staff found the capsized vessel at 5:30 a.m. Monday.
The landing craft had ripped free of the dock, but stayed buoyant long enough for it to be towed to shallower water, according to the DEC. It sank about 20 feet from shore, in about 30 feet of water, according to the Coast Guard.
The fuel truck floated free of the Saltery Provider's deck, but stayed tangled in the vessel's cargo boom, according to the Coast Guard.
Coast Guard and DEC officials responded to the scene, as did the Southeast Alaska Petroleum Resource Organization.
Alaska Commercial Divers, which was contracted by the vessel's owner to coordinate the salvage, also went to the scene.
On Tuesday, boom deployed by SEAPRO surrounded the vessel, fuel truck and a salvage barge to contain oil from the vessel and collect oil that might discharge during the salvage, according to DEC.
SEAPRO also deployed boom at the mouth of two salmon streams in the cove, according to DEC.
As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, no sheen has approached the streams due to continued winds, a DEC report stated.
The initial salvage plan called for "lightering the fuel off the fuel truck, craning the fuel truck out, and then raising the Saltery Provider at low tide (Tuesday) evening," according to the Coast Guard.
The cause of the sinking remained unknown Tuesday, according to DEC.
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