Canadian coast guard officials secured a towline to a Russian container ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of fuel as it drifted without power in rough seas off British Columbia’s pristine northern coast.
The move lessened the threat of the ship running aground, hitting rocks and causing a spill.
The Canadian Forces’ joint rescue coordination center said the Russian carrier Simushir lost power off Haida Gwaii, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, as it made its way from Everett in Washington State to Russia.
The Council of the Haida Nation said late on Friday that the coast guard ship Gordon Reid managed to secure a towline and the two vessels were moving away from the coastline at Gwaii Haanas at 1.5 knots.
The statement said the situation remained highly tenuous and the outcome was subject to weather.
Another coast guard ship was expected to arrive early yesterday and attempt to assist in towing the vessel to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, depending on weather.
The ship, originally 14.5km offshore, was drifting northwest in stormy seas on Friday, away from shore, but Canadian Coast Guard assistant commissioner Roger Girouard said it had no propulsion.
The ship lost power late Thursday, officials said.
The fear of oil spills is especially acute in British Columbia, where residents remember the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989.
Such worries have fed fierce opposition — particularly from environmentalists and Canada’s native tribes — to a proposal to build a pipeline that would carry oil from Canada’s Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Coast for shipment to Asia.
Opponents say the proposed pipeline would bring about 220 large oil tankers a year to the province’s coast.
Council of the Haida Nation president Pete Lantin said earlier on Friday that a storm coming into the area was expected to push the ship onto the rocky shore.
“If it hits where it’s going to hit, this ship is going to be torn apart,” Lantin said. “We expect a catastrophic event and a huge disaster on our hands.”
About 5,000 people live on the island and fish for food nearby, Lantin said.
Girouard said their top concern was the fuel and diesel oil on board and the risk that the ship could hit the rocks and break apart.
He earlier said if the ship did come apart, the rough seas would break up the oil “so we would have an ally there. It’s cold weather so we don’t have a lot of migratory species right at the moment.”
He said they had been already moving assets to the region to respond should the ship break apart and spill oil.
Acting Canadian Sub-Lieutenant Ron MacDougall said the Simushir, which is about 135 meters long, was carrying “a range of hydrocarbons, mining materials and other related chemicals.”
That included 400 tonnes of bunker oil and 50 tonnes of diesel.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was