OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA —The U.S. Coast Guard unleashed cannon fire Thursday to sink a Japanese vessel set adrift by last year’s tsunami, stopping the ship’s long, lonely voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
A Coast Guard cutter fired on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru in the waters of the Gulf of Alaska and more than 150 miles from land, spokesman Paul Webb said. The Japanese ship, which was dislodged by last year’s tsunami and had no lights or communications system, had a tank that could carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Officials didn’t know how much fuel, if any, was aboard.
Either way, the government said the move was safer environmentally than letting the ship continue to drift or become a danger to other vessels.
The ship had been destined for scrapping when the Japan earthquake struck, so there was no cargo on board, Webb said.
In January, large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska’s panhandle and may be among the first debris from the tsunami.
The Associated Press
