Selendang Ayu
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Ariel view of Selendang Ayu
The Selendang Ayu was a Malaysian cargo ship carrying a cargo of soybeans to China, which ran aground off the coast of Unalaska Island in western Alaska's Aleutian Islands on December 8, 2004. This resulted in a large oil spill.
Multiple Jayhawk helicopters from the U.S. Coast Guard were involved in evacuating the ship's 26 crewmembers to the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley. One Jayhawk experienced problems after lifting seven crew members from the ship and crashed into the sea. Another helicopter recovered the three-man Coast Guard crew and one of the people from the ship. The Coast Guard searched for the remaining crew until their efforts were called off on December 10.
The ship had been carrying a significant amount of fuel, so there were fears that the Selendang Ayu could create the worst Alaskan oil spill since the Exxon Valdez. One tank containing 40,131 gallons of fuel ruptured when the ship broke apart. It is estimated that 424,000 gallons of heavy bunker C fuel oil remains onboard, although most of that fuel was transferred to internal tanks when the ship foundered, and heaters were turned off so that the fuel would thicken in the cold waters. Another 18,000 gallons of diesel fuel is believed to still be on board as well.
External links
- [State of Alaska incident report]
- [Search Suspended for Missing Crew Members] Associated Press, 11 Dec 2004.
- Megan Holland and Doug O'Hara (December 13, 2004). [For first time, crew describes rescue mission.] Anchorage Daily News.
- More Oil Spilled than first estimated CBC [link]
- [Maritimequest Selendang Ayu Photo Gallery]
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