Salvors have recuperated a fuel truck that moved off a barge in Chancellor Channel, a thin stream north of Vancouver Island, B.C.
On April 20, the pull Risco Champion was towing the flatboat Western Transporter to a remote logging camp on Hardwicke Island. A truck carrying 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel rolled off the barge and into the water during a windstorm.
A spill response company, the Canadian Coast Guard, and a team of local first nations arrived on the scene the following day to locate the tank truck. They found it rapidly utilizing a ROV. Fortunately, the truck fell about 100 feet into the water near the channel's edge, within reach of commercial dive teams. There, salvage divers fixed a few small leaks and set up the truck for lifting. In the interim, the responders set up a containment boom to stop any fuel slicks from spreading, and they regularly patrolled the shoreline for signs of oiling.
A salvage crew lifted the truck to the surface of the water on Friday evening. Before clearing the truck, they pumped the fuel into holding tanks to lighten the load once it was accessible. The BC Environment Ministry claims that this evolution was carried out with only a small amount of fuel released during the lift. Since the truck began to sink, no one is yet aware of the total amount of fuel that was lost.
The justification for the runaway isn't yet known, yet the canal boat proprietor told the nearby Ruler George Post that repairmen will actually take a look at the truck's brakes.
Local fishing interests and first nations will feel some relief if the truck and its contents are successfully recovered. Chancellor Station is home to a rockfish protection region, one of many assigned by Fisheries and Seas Canada in the labyrinth of stations north of Disclosure Entry.
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