The Canadian Coast Guard says it believes that many, if not all, of the 105 lost containers that fell into the sea from a cargo ship off Victoria in late October have sunk.
The containers were thrown from the MV Zim Kingston during a storm near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca around the same time that a fire broke out on the ship.
The coast guard said in a statement Thursday that four containers carrying coolers and running shoes made it to shore on northern Vancouver Island, but there were no signs of the others.
The agency said it is working with the ship’s owner to determine next steps and the feasibility of trying to locate the 105 missing containers.
Danaos Shipping, which runs Zim Kingston, said they did not yet have a list of what was in the containers available.
The coast guard previously said the containers contained Christmas decorations, sofas, appliances, clothing, auto parts, toys and other everyday items. There were also two containers that fell overboard with chemicals used in mining.
Information provided to the unified command indicates that the chemicals were water soluble and biodegradable, it said in the statement Thursday.
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“They are not bioaccumulative agents, which means that if there was human contact, the chemicals do not accumulate in the body faster than they are excreted and there is a very low risk of poisoning or toxicity,” the statement said.
“From the perspective of the risk of harm to humans from consuming fish and shellfish, there has been no need to close the fisheries.”
The coast guard said weather, high tides and storms have been major factors affecting crews trying to clean up the beaches where four of the containers landed.
105 containers that fell from a cargo ship near BC believed to have sunk: Coast Guard #Fire #CargoShip #BC
The coast guard said 307 bags of material garbage, 69 bulk bags of debris, 44 coolers, three bulk bags of scrap metal and one cubic meter of scrap metal were recovered last weekend from what was left of the containers that arrived. to Earth.
“The number of containers found on the beach is four and clean-up efforts are ongoing in these areas of northern Vancouver Island where debris has been identified. The Unified Command expects a complete beach clean-up at these sites.” the coast guard said in the statement.
A container that floated ashore in northwest Vancouver Island was disassembled by cleanup crews, it added.
The coast guard asked the public to report any containers that may float to the surface.
The Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the fire that broke out on the freighter.
This Canadian Press report was first published on November 11, 2021.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com