Unalaska Island News

An ailing crewmember was medevaced from the vehicle carrier Morning Peace approximately 130 miles southwest of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.At 1:32 p.m. Wednesday, Coast Guard watchstanders received a medevac request for a 48 year-old crewmember reportedly experiencing symptoms of appendicitis aboard the 653-foot, Marshall Islands flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle carrier. The Duty Flight Surgeon was consulted and a medevac was recommended.Initially 530 miles south of Unalaska Island…

There are a number of federal and state statutes that intentionally and justifiably impose strict criminal liability. Persons who manufacture hazardous explosives and those who keep dangerous animals create serious risks to public safety. Clearly placing the burden of potential criminal liability, even in the absence of criminal negligence or intent, on those persons and entities is appropriate. There are other statutes, though, that fail to disclose whether the authors intended for the criminal penalties included for noncompliance to be strictly applied or whether criminal liability requires proof of criminal negligence or specific intent. Two such statutes of interest to the maritime community are the Refuse Act of 1899 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).

Industry analyst and environmental consultant Dagmar Schmidt Etkin, PhD, takes a hard look at a rapidly shifting operational landscape in the Arctic. Always an honest broker of information, Etkin tells it like it is. Oil spill risk is present anywhere that oil is present in reservoirs, or is transported, consumed, stored, and handled in some way. The Arctic is no exception. Not only are there oil reserves in the Arctic, some of which are being or will soon be considered for exploration and production, there is also oil being transported as cargo or as fuel to Arctic communities.

Fierce Arctic winds and towering 30-foot seas assaulted a 738-foot freighter with 20 crewmembers aboard finding themselves helplessly adrift with limited engine power in the midst of an ice-cold storm 70 miles north of Adak. Trouble loomed on the horizon as they were drifting toward land carrying more than 132,277 pounds of rape seed used to make canola oil, 450,000 gallons of fuel oil and 11,700 gallons of diesel fuel with the only help more than 400 miles away. In the midst of the Golden Seas’ voyage to the United Arab Emirates the crew experienced a turbo-charger failure Dec. 3 2010.

The Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment management team selected Nuka Research and Planning Group, LLC Feb. As the facilitator Nuke Research will support the team's ongoing Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment with a key role of assembling and facilitating advisory panel activities. The contract is currently being finalized. Nuka Research is a small business located in Alaska with extensive experience in facilitation and maritime issues in the Aleutian Islands. As the facilitator of the advisory panel…

The motor vessel Selendang Ayu, a 738-foot freighter has run aground and broken in two on the northern shore of Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Island Chain. In addition a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Kodiak crashed last night while evacuating the remaining eight crew members from the Selendang Ayu. The vessel ran aground more than 40-hours after the ship's main engine broke down causing it to drift in high winds and heavy seas. The Coast Guard has rescued 20 of the Selendang Ayu's 26 crewmen. The three Coast Guard crewmen from the Jayhawk and two persons who remained aboard the stricken vessel after the helicopter crashed are safe. Six crewmen from the Selendang Ayu still remain missing.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Coast Guard is conducting a rescue effort right now near Unalaska Island for 10 people who were aboard a Coast Guard helicopter. The helicopter and crew based out of Kodiak were evacuating crewmembers off the grounded freighter Selendang Ayu when it crashed in the ocean during the rescue attempt. Another helicopter from the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley, which is on scene, picked up four people and have taken them to Dutch Harbor for medical treatment, their condition is unknown. Six people are still unaccounted for. The Selendang Ayu has subsequently broken in two and a Coast Guard rescue swimmer along with the master of the vessel remain on board.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) issued a Situation Report stating that the winter operations plan has been put into effect and that regular situation reports will not be issued until the week of April 4. Of the estimated 477,853 gallons of oil on board the SELENDANG AYU when it grounded on Unalaska Island on December 8, 2004, approximately 140,739 gallons have been recovered and lightered ashore. The remainder (approximately 337,114 gallons) were released into the environment. As weather permits, monitoring will continue until active operations recommence in the spring. Source: HK Law

KODIAK, Alaska - Cleanup operations continue in earnest at the site of the Selendang Ayu wreck. Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team (SCAT) personnel continue making progress and have surveyed 465 segments of the 799 beach segments identified as potentially impacted sites. Coast Guard Captain Ron Morris, Federal On-scene Coordinator said "The shoreline has been divided into segments as an aid for geographical referencing for response personnel. shoreline with some portion of 53 miles of those surveyed recommended for cleanup. The other 171 miles will not require further treatment. To date cleaning crews have collected 1,407 cubic yards of oily waste. There are currently 158 field response personnel and 21 vessels involved in the cleanup operations.

IMC Shipping Co. Pte. Ltd. (IMC), pleaded guilty in federal court in Alaska to a three-count information alleging two violations of the Refuse Act for the illegal discharge of oil and soy beans and one violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for killing of thousands of migratory birds that resulted from the grounding of the M/V Selendang Ayu on Dec. 8, 2004 in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. IMC was subsequently sentenced to pay a criminal penalty of $10m. The grounding of the M/V Selendang Ayu spilled approximately 340,000 gallons of bunker fuel, as well as several thousands of tons of soy beans, into the Bering Sea in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Islands resulting in the deaths of several thousand migratory birds.

Owners of a ship that ran aground on an Aleutian Island will plead guilty to illegally discharging its cargo and have agreed to pay a hefty fine, reports said. IMC Shipping Co. Pte. Ltd. (IMC) of Singapore will also plead guilty to killing hundreds of seabirds when its 738-ft. freighter, Selendang Ayu, ran aground Dec. 8, 2004, and broke in two on the north side of Unalaska Island, said U.S. Attorney Nelson Cohen. The vessel was carrying an estimated 442,000 gallons of fuel oil and some diesel. About 336,000 gallons of intermediate fuel oil and diesel spilled, along with 66,000 tons of soybeans. During rescue operations, a Coast Guard helicopter carrying Selendang Ayu crew members from the tanker crashed.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its report on the grounding of the bulk carrier Selendang AYU on Unalaska Island on December 8, 2004. The ship broke up following the grounding, releasing approximately 1,000 metric tons of fuel and 60,200 metric tons of its cargo of soybeans into waters of the Bering Sea. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the casualty was the failure of the ship’s main engine. Contributing factors included the inability of the crew to restart the engine and the inability of responding vessels to effect a tow. Source: HK Law