Fuel tanker runs aground in Canadian Arctic
by Agence France-Presse.
OTTAWA—A fuel tanker has run aground in Canada’s far
north, carrying 2.4 million gallons of diesel fuel that risk spilling into the
Arctic waters, the Canadian Coast Guard said Thursday.
A Coast Guard
spokesman told AFP no leaks from the tanker had yet been detected in the
pristine waters.
The ship struck
a sandbar in the famed Northwest Passage, southwest of the town of Gjoa Haven
in Canada’s Nunavut territory, on Wednesday. It was carrying fuel to resupply
remote communities in the region.
Authorities and
the ship’s owner, Woodward’s Oil, will attempt to float it off the sandbar, the
official said.
Last week, a
cruise ship struck an uncharted rock in the same waterway, forcing the
evacuation of more than 110 passengers and crew. That crash occurred late
Friday as the ship Clipper Adventurer set out from Kugluktuk, Nunavut, for a
12-day voyage through the passage.
None of the
tourists onboard were injured, said a spokesman for tour operator Adventure
Canada. But it took two days for the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen
to arrive at the scene, prompting calls for Canada to beef up its search and
rescue capabilities in the far north.
With the
acceleration of Arctic ice melt, interest in the region has soared. Shrinking
ice has opened up sea navigation, and could give oil rigs improved access to
the sea floor.
Canada’s claim
to the Northwest Passage, however, is disputed by the United States.
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