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Derelict vessel sinks at Saipan port
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Posted on Jun 30 2004
At the height of Typhoon Tingting Monday, the Mwaalil Saat, a 93-foot derelict fishing vessel moored at the Mariana’s Public Land Authority, was found sunk and located adjacent to Able Dock of the Port of Saipan in 20 feet of water.
Agencies immediately went to the site and saw the sunken vessel, with a diesel oil sheen around it and a trail of black oil that was dissipating north to Lower Base due to the bad weather.
A U.S. Coast Guard-Saipan statement said the Commonwealth Port Authority immediately notified it of the incident at about 8am Monday.
“A CNMI Unified Command was established and Area Contingency Plan placed into effect,” the USCG statement said.
Among those went to the scene were the USCG, CPA, Emergency Management Office, Coastal Resources Management, and Division of Environmental Quality.
“[We] immediately responded in monsoon weather and observed the vessel sunk on its starboard side bow facing south, with a diesel oil sheen about 100 by 100 yards around the vessel and a two-foot wide trail of black oil extending north to Lower Base,” the statement added.
The USCG decided to remove the entire vessel as it posed a direct threat to public safety because of its immediate proximity and threat to oil tankers offloading fuel oil, gasoline and lube oil at Able Dock in the Port of Saipan.
“A preliminary environmental assessment indicated that minimal fuel and oil was onboard at the time of the sinking. Immediate action was taken to mitigate the environmental threat, secure and stabilize the vessel,” the statement said.
