U.S. Coast Guard sinks Japanese “ghost ship”

U.S. Coast Guard cutter sank a Japanese ghost ship that had been drifting in the Pacific Ocean since tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011.

Izvor: Beta

Friday, 06.04.2012.

16:11

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U.S. Coast Guard cutter sank a Japanese ghost ship that had been drifting in the Pacific Ocean since tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The cutter's guns tore holes in the 65-meter Ryou-Un Maru on Thursday, ending its long, lonely journey across the Pacific. U.S. Coast Guard sinks Japanese “ghost ship” The Coast Guard crew pummeled the ghost ship with high explosive ammunition and the derelict Ryou-Un Maru soon burst into flames and began taking on water. It sank into waters more than 305 meters deep, about 240 kilometers west of the southeast Alaska coast, the Coast Guard said. Officials decided to sink the ship rather than risk the chance of it running aground or endangering other vessels in the busy shipping lanes between North America and Asia, AFP has reported. The ship had no lights or communications system and its tank was able to carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Officials, however, didn't know how much fuel, if any, was aboard. The ship was first noticed off the coast of Canada on March 25. The ship was at Hokkaido, Japan, and destined for scrapping when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck the country in March 2011 triggered a tsunami. In total, about 25 million tons of debris was swept out to sea. State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska shores will be contaminated by radiation. The earthquake triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, AFP has reported. Beta

U.S. Coast Guard sinks Japanese “ghost ship”

The Coast Guard crew pummeled the ghost ship with high explosive ammunition and the derelict Ryou-Un Maru soon burst into flames and began taking on water.

It sank into waters more than 305 meters deep, about 240 kilometers west of the southeast Alaska coast, the Coast Guard said.

Officials decided to sink the ship rather than risk the chance of it running aground or endangering other vessels in the busy shipping lanes between North America and Asia, AFP has reported.

The ship had no lights or communications system and its tank was able to carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Officials, however, didn't know how much fuel, if any, was aboard.

The ship was first noticed off the coast of Canada on March 25.

The ship was at Hokkaido, Japan, and destined for scrapping when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck the country in March 2011 triggered a tsunami.

In total, about 25 million tons of debris was swept out to sea.

State health and environmental officials have said there's little need to be worried that debris landing on Alaska shores will be contaminated by radiation.

The earthquake triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, AFP has reported.

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