SAN FRANCISCO—Crews were able to plug the leaking fuel vent of a barge on Friday, April 7, that overturned south of the Bay Bridge.
The 112-foot freight barge ‘Vengeance,’ which is owned by Vortex Marine Construction, overturned at about 12:20 a.m. amid strong winds.
The construction company hired a crew from Global Diving and Salvage who were to perform an underwater assessment of the barge on Saturday, April 8, as responders devised a method to salvage the barge and begin cleanup processing and operations. Officials are planning to further inspect the vessel before removing it from the water.
Divers entered the 50-foot deep channel off of Yerba Buena Island on Friday afternoon and closed the barge’s fuel vent. The vent reportedly carried 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 300 gallons of hydraulic fluid. The U.S. Coast Guard reported that shoreline does not appear to have been impacted by the leak.
Officials indicated that there was no way to measure how much of the fuel leaked into the bay until crews raise the barge and measure the amount of fuel left inside the vessel. Crews wrapped 3,000 feet of boom around the barge to contain the spill.
Winds from a Thursday night storm reached 40 mph, which may have resulted in the barge sinking. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management joined the Coast Guard, BART and Vortex Marine Construction to respond to the spill.
While no oiled wildlife has been reported, the U.S. Coast Guard advised anyone who has observed affected animals to call 1-877-823-6926.
