Crew on board U.S.-flagged Seattle-bound vessel evacuate before it sinks as 1,000 barrels of fuel leaked into lake
Three containers on a US-flagged cargo ship have caught fire off the coast of British Columbia and crews using inflatable boats are trying to rescue the crew on board after the ship sank into Lake Erie.
Operations to evacuate and burn the three containers have ended, Coast Guard spokesman Steve Lehman said.
The ships said fuel was still leaking from one container into the lake.
“I don’t think we will know what the real magnitude of it is, but we will have to work around the clock to monitor that,” said Lehman.
At least 21 people had been aboard the Seattle-bound ship when it was 1,000 metres (3,280ft) offshore off the west coast of Vancouver Island. They escaped on to inflatable life rafts that were lowered from a helicopter.
The 13-year-old yacht Quantum, a 218-foot (68-metre) vessel also burned in Lake Erie last September, killing five of its passengers.
