Adrift Japanese ghost ship blasted to ocean bottom
More than a year after it was tossed into the high seas following the tsunami in Japan, a Japanese ghost ship that had drifted its way to the Gulf of Alaska was blasted with powerful explosives, making it sink to the ocean bottom.
The164-foot Ryou-Un Maru Thursday ended its long journey across the Pacific Ocean when a US Coast Guard cutter pummeled it with cannon fire. The ghost ship began taking on water and sank in the Gulf of Alaska, eliminating the danger it posed to shipping and the coastline.
As smoke billowed over the ghost ship, a Coast Guard C-130 cargo plane dropped a buoy to monitor for any possible pollution. In about four hours the ship sank into the waters, about 180 miles west of the southeast Alaska coast.
The ship's tank could carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel, but officials did not know how much fuel, if any, was aboard, a Coast Guard official was quoted as saying by AP.
The ship was meant to be sent to a scrap yard when the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck Japan in March 2011, and triggered a tsunami.
The high waves dislodged the vessel, which was in Hokkaido, Japan, and set it adrift.
According to Coast Guard spokesman, Paul Webb the boat did not have any cargo and it had been traveling about 1 mph in recent days. Webb said he did not know who owned the Ryou-Un Maru, the AP said.
A Canadian fishing boat had expressed interest in salvaging the ghost ship, but eventually decided it could not tow the crippled vessel.
Source: Asia Pacific News.Net
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