US Coast Guard working to free grounded oil tanker

Galveston, Texas: An oil tanker remained grounded late on Saturday night off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico, but no fuel had spilled from it, officials said.

The US Coast Guard, other federal and state agencies and a salvage company have been planning a strategy for freeing the 243-metre vessel, the Yasa Golden Dardanelles. It's carrying 620,000 barrels of low sulphur fuel oil, said Coast Guard spoksewoman Renee Aiello.

"This is something we prepare for," she said. "Fortunately, events like this are not frequent. But we are the Coast Guard, and we are prepared for this type of event."

A Coast Guard helicopter flew over the ship and saw no evidence of pollution, Aiello said.

The tanker was built by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. in Japan and delivered last spring to Yasa Tanker and Transportation SA of Istanbul, Turkey, according to a news release issued by Mitsui at the time. It flies under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

A woman who answered the phone at the Turkish company on Saturday said nobody was available to discuss the matter.

The tanker ran aground 35.4 kilometres off the coast in sand sometime on Friday while waiting for a pilot to guide it into the Houston Ship Channel. The ship ran aground on the north side of the Galveston Safety Fairway, an area that leads to the ship channel, Aiello said.

A spokesman for Titan Salvage confirmed that the company is involved in the operation.