Sinking boat in the Delta leaking diesel fuel and oil, San Joaquin sheriff says
A sinking ship in the Delta is leaking diesel fuel and oil into the waterway
By Web staff
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SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, California (KCRA) — A sinking ship in the Delta is leaking diesel fuel and oil into the waterway, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said.
The ship named the Aurora is along Empire Tract and Eight Mile roads in what’s called the Little Potato Slough, the sheriff’s office said. A hole in the ship is causing the vessel to take on water.
“The biggest priority is containing that leak. We want to make sure that there’s no wildlife that gets injured this during this. So far, we haven’t found any wildlife that has been affected by this leak. But then, also the delta water way is recreational. We have boaters out here, we have swimmers out here and we want to make sure that they’re not affected by this,” said Heather Brent, spokesperson with the San Joaquín County Sheriff’s Office.
Assisting agencies include the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Office of Emergency Services, and Environmental Health.
“We are doing our best to mitigate any pollution impacts because there is some petroleum on board the vessel,” said petty officer, Stephen McConnell with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Despite not knowing how much fuel was released into the Delta waterway, McConnell added that clean-up is expected to be done within the next four to five days. A significantly shorter timeline, compared to the USS Mazapeta which took months to be completely cleared out after fuel and oil leakage.
No oiled wildlife has been reported.
Details on what caused the hole were not released.
The ship is roughly 17 miles northwest of the city of Stockton.
Aurora Aurora was built in 1955 in Hamburg, Germany, according to Christopher Wilson who for more than 15 years tried restoring the vessel and worked hard on preventing her sinking.
“I was on it almost 24/7 and when I wasn’t, I had a watchman on it all the time. We had bilge alarms and bilge pumps all setup and ready to go, so anything that happened, we had all the equipment to keep it floating,” said Wilson, who found the news heartwrenching.
Wilson bought the once-luxurious cruise ship in 2008, and up until a few months ago, he was still the owner.
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