Crews removing the overturned cargo ship on the Georgia coast have found the likely source of the oil that’s spilled from it over the past week. Oil clean-up continues, but officials say there is less oil coming from the wreck now.
Over the past week, oil from the wreck of the Golden Ray car carrier washed up on beaches and marshes on St. Simons Island, and 20 juvenile royal terns from Bird Island were sent to a facility in South Carolina to get oil washed off of them.
The oil escaped from the car carrier a few times over several days as crews were working to remove a giant section of the ship. With that section lifted in the air, they were able to find and plug a fuel line that they believe was the source of the oil, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Himes, a spokesman for the multi-agency wreck response team.
He said it had been too dangerous to send divers under water to inspect the part of the ship that was leaking.
“As much as we would have liked to have been able to survey parts of the section, the potential for falling debris and the low visibility of the worksite itself” made it unsafe, he said.
