A 26-foot cabin cruiser sits partially submerged near Richmond Beach, Wash., March 7, 2016.
Coast Guard personnel from Sector Puget Sound, in Seattle, are on scene monitoring cleanup and salvage operations.
U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Station Seattle.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Wingfield (left) and Petty Officer 3rd Class Seth Grayson, marine science technicians from Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound Incident Management Division, observe a 26-foot cabin cruiser that sank near Richmond Beach, Wash., March 7, 2016.
IMD personnel have contract Global Diving and Salvage to remove any fuel that may be onboard the vessel.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nicholas DeBrum.
SEATTLE — Coast Guard personnel from Sector Puget Sound’s Incident Management Division and Washington Department of Ecology are responding to the report of a 26-foot cabin cruiser partially submerged around 50 feet from shore near Richmond Beach, Monday afternoon.
There is an unknown amount of fuel onboard and pollution responders have reported the smell of diesel fuel in the vicinity and contracted Global Diving and Salvage to survey the vessel and remove any fuel onboard.
A Station Seattle boatcrew was underway for a possible search and rescue case at 9 a.m., when they notified IMD personnel that the vessel appeared to be derelict and drifting toward shore near Richmond Beach. Pollution responders notified the Washington Department of Ecology and arrived on scene at 11:40 a.m.
“The notification IMD got from the Station Seattle boatcrew is what allowed us to get out here and get contractors on scene quickly," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Seth Grayson, a marine science technician with Sector Puget Sound. “It really shows our flexibility as an agency and our ability to transition from search and rescue to environmental protection.”
Weather on scene is reported to be 2-to-3 foot seas with 15-mph winds.