ANCHORAGE, Alaska - About 150 people have been sent to an Aleutian island to try to clean up fuel oil streaming from a wrecked cargo ship, but harsh weather has kept most from the spill site, federal and state officials said on Saturday.
Authorities earlier said they had called off the search for six missing crew members, who were not wearing cold-water survival gear, and efforts were now concentrated on preventing environmental damage in a sensitive area important to marine mammals, sea birds and fish.
An aerial survey found oil leaking from both halves of the severed cargo ship, which grounded off the western coast of Unalaska Island on Wednesday, officials said. But responders have been unable to board the wreckage for inspections, and have just begun to seal off important salmon-spawning streams.
"We're working in a remote area with difficult weather right now," US Coast Guard Capt. Ron Morris, the federal on-scene coordinator.
"It seems to be stopping some of the progress that we'd like to make to get on scene. It's very difficult to plan and to execute if you can't get out there and the weather keeps your helicopters grounded," he said.
Morris spoke in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, the island's port city, at a news conference also linked with reporters at a Coast Guard office in Anchorage.
Unalaska is about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The ship, the Malaysian-flagged Selendang Ayu, was holding nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel oil and 21,000 gallons of diesel fuel when it broke apart. Officials estimated that 140,000 gallons have leaked.
"The exact amount and quantity of oil and the extent of oiling of the shoreline is not well known because of our difficulty in making overflights to survey it," said Howard Hile, the expert hired by the ship's owner, Singapore-based IMC Shipping, to coordinate its response.
Winds were reported at 45 knots, with gusts up to 55 knots, and seas up to 24 feet.
There have been reports of oil sheen and tar balls, but it was not known whether any of the spill has reached shore, said Hile, who works for Gallagher Marine Systems Inc., an international marine casualty company.
The ship wrecked in an area managed as part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. It is habitat for endangered Steller sea lions, two threatened species of ducks and Aleutian sea otters, a population recently designated for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
The decision to call off the search for the missing crew members was made late on Friday. "The active search has been suspended, but they of course will continue to look as they go out and do other oil-related activity," said Marti Early, an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation official.
The six crew members were lost when a Coast Guard helicopter crashed during a stormy rescue attempt. The other 20 members of the Selendang Ayu's crew and the Coast Guard helicopter's crewmen were rescued.
The ship was ferrying soybeans from Washington state to China. Early on Tuesday it reported that it had lost power and was adrift in the Bering Sea. Efforts to tow and anchor it failed.
"I am deeply appreciative for the many heroic efforts made by the men and women of the US Coast Guard," said Peter Chew, group managing director for IMC Shipping.
"It is with deep regret and sadness that we note the suspension of the search and rescue efforts for our brave and appreciated crew. At this time, the company offers its sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the lost crew."
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
