Weather thwarts efforts to better contain tugboat fuel spill off B.C.’s coast
BELLA BELLA, B.C. — The chief of a First Nation community says choppy weather hindered efforts Friday to deploy a larger boom to better contain a leak of diesel fuel from a sunken tugboat on British Columbia’s central coast.
Heiltsuk Chief Marilyn Slett says a boom that was installed earlier became caught on a rock at low tide Thursday night and allowed an unknown amount of diesel to seep into open water.
A situation report issued Friday morning said water outside the containment booms appeared discoloured after the breach was discovered, but skimmer vessels failed to detect any diesel after the area was skimmed.
The Nathan E. Stewart tug ran aground while pulling an empty fuel barge through Seaforth Channel, about 20 kilometres west of Bella Bella, shortly after midnight on Oct. 13.