- The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed a ship to sink a fishing trawler that was swept away more than a year ago by the tsunami off the coast of Japan and is now adrift near Alaska.
The crew of the Coast
Guard's 110-foot CG Cutter Anacapa plans to assess the deserted
trawler's condition Thursday morning, said Chief Petty Officer Kip
Wadlow.
If its assessments are
satisfactory, the crew will attempt to sink the vessel, named the
Ryou-Un Maru, with the 25-millimeter cannon on board the cutter, Wadlow
said.
The rust-stained trawler
is part of a giant debris field in the Pacific Ocean that was generated
by the devastating wall of water that struck northeastern Japan
following a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011.
The enormous wave dragged everything from cars to houses out into the ocean, killing thousands of people.
The drifting trawler is
considered a hazard to navigation for vessels in the area, according to
authorities. Mariners have received information about the unmanned and
unlit boat's presence.
Early Thursday morning,
the trawler was about 170 nautical miles southwest of Sitka, Alaska, the
Coast Guard said. A Coast Guard plane has dropped a self-locating data
marker buoy in order to track the boat.
The trawler was first
spotted floating near British Columbia by a Canadian military air
patrol, and it has since been determined that it has been adrift without
anybody at the helm since the tsunami, Canadian officials said last
month.
The Japan Coast Guard
identified the owner of the vessel after being contacted by Canadian
officials, who were able to provide the identification number on the
hull of the ship.
The vessel, which was
used for squid fishing, was moored at Hachinohe in the Aomori prefecture
when the tsunami hit, according to Japanese authorities.
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