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Recreational boat sinks at Smiling Cove
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Posted on Sep 08 2005
A 42-foot recreational cabin cruiser was rescued yesterday after it took in water and nearly sank to the bottom of the Smiling Cove Marina in Puerto Rico.
Lt. Greg Schultz, U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Saipan supervisor, said his office was notified Wednesday morning that a recreational boat had sunk at the docking port area and a possible oil spill might have occurred.
Schultz said a representative of the boat owner went to the Coast Guard office along Beach Road, Garapan and informed him of their plan to salvage the vessel yesterday.
He declined to disclose the identity of the boat owner. The vessel had a state vessel registration number CM-1534-PU. Schultz said the owner had to talk to a contractor for the salvage operation.
The owner contracted a marine salvage group, according to Schultz, and it was only yesterday afternoon that the rescue operation was done. A crane was used to gradually haul the boat to shore.
Schultz said the Marine Safety Detachment office had placed an oil absorbent boom around the yacht to catch any oil that might leak.
“So far I didn’t see any spill there,” he said.
The crane hooked the back end of the boat to lift it to shore, said Schultz. Today, they would pump all the water out of the boat and load the vessel onto a trailer.
Schultz said the cause of the boat’s sinking has not been determined yet, since last week’s typhoon did not affect any of the vessels docked on the port, based on their observation and records.
