US To Sink Ghost Ship Dislodged By Japan Tsunami

The lonely voyage of a rusting, unmanned Japanese ship that has floated thousands of miles since it was dislodged by last year's tsunami appeared to be coming to an end in the Gulf of Alaska. The U.S. Coast Guard was gearing up to use cannon fire to sink the shrimping vessel, which was floating 180 miles southwest of the southeast Alaska town of Sitka Thursday morning. "Something like this hasn't been done, based on the tsunami," Coast Guard spokesman Paul Webb said. "It's a new one for all of us." The 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru, which has no lights or communications system, has a tank that could carry more than 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel, but officials don't know how much, if any, is aboard. Either way, the government says the move is safer environmentally than letting the ship continue to drift. "It's less risky than it would be running into shore or running into (maritime) traffic," Webb said. The vessel had been destined for scrapping when the Japan earthquake struck, so there is no cargo on board, according to Webb. He said it's likely there is little or no fuel on board because the ship has been traveling high in the water, indicating a light ballast. Webb said he doesn't know who owns the Ryou-Un Maru, which has been traveling about 1 mile per hour in the past days.A Coast Guard cutter was at the location of the ghost ship Thursday with plans to fire cannons loaded with high explosive rounds to sink the vessel in calm seas and clear weather. Webb said the cutter would fire the cannons from several hundred feet away. The goal is to punch holes in the Ryou-Un Maru and sink it. A Coast Guard C-130 plane crew will monitor the operation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency studied the problem and decided it is safer to sink the ship and let the fuel evaporate in the open water. The Coast Guard will warn other ships to avoid the area, and will observe from an HC-130 Hercules airplane. The vessel has been adrift from Hokkaido, Japan, since it was launched by the tsunami caused by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011. About 5 million tons of debris were swept into the ocean by the tsunami. The Japan earthquake triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, but Alaska 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. They have been working with federal counterparts to gauge the danger of debris including material affected by a damaged nuclear power plant, to see if Alaska residents, seafood or wild game could be affected. In January, a half dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms appeared at the top of Alaska's panhandle and may be among the first debris from the tsunami.