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Norwegian tanker runs aground near Nunivak Island

Alaska Public Media | By Emily Russell
Published June 27, 2016 at 8:08 PM AKDT
U.S. Coast Guardsmen conduct preflight checks on a Coast Guard HC-130H Hercules on the flight line June 28, 2012 Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska. Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Kodiak are flying daily missions to Barrow, Alaska in preparation for a U.S. Coast Guard deployment Arctic Shield. Arctic Shield is a forward deployed temporary air station operating from Barrow in the Arctic Ocean during the summer to increase search and rescue response times in the region. (Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth/Released)
U.S. Coast Guardsmen conduct preflight checks on a Coast Guard HC-130H Hercules on the flight line June 28, 2012 Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska. Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Kodiak are flying daily missions to Barrow, Alaska in preparation for a U.S. Coast Guard deployment Arctic Shield. Arctic Shield is a forward deployed temporary air station operating from Barrow in the Arctic Ocean during the summer to increase search and rescue response times in the region. (Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth/Released)

A Norwegian tanker ran aground near Nunivak Island last week. According to a US Coast Guard press release, the chemical tanker was carrying over 14 million gallons of fuel when it hit bottom a little after 9 a.m. Friday.

The 24-member crew was able to refloat the vessel minutes after the grounding and anchored in deeper waters. While the crew saw no initial signs of a spill, the Coast Guard sent a C-130 Hercules airplane from Kodiak. The fly-over confirmed no visible pollution from the grounding.

According to the Coast Guard, the weather at the time of the incident was calm with 3-foot seas.
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Emily Russell
Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer. Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF. Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about. Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.
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