GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday deployed a boom to contain a diesel fuel leak from a cargo vessel offshore at Manistee, it said.
The Coast Guard said it got a report that the M/V Manitowoc was leaking fuel in Lake Michigan near Manistee’s Fifth Avenue Beach. It sent vessels from Manistee and Grand Haven, plus a helicopter from its air base in Waukegan.
A damaged fuel tank has been partially plugged to slow the leak, the Coast Guard said, and an absorbent boom was put into the water. A commercial salvage company was called in.
The cause of the leak was not immediately known, nor was it clear exactly how much fuel leaked.
People were initially advised to avoid Fifth Avenue Beach because wind conditions were expected to push the fuel toward the shore, but the coast guard later said to disregard that notice. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working to map the projected movement of the spilled fuel, the coast guard said.
The Manitowoc is a 630-foot cargo vessel built in 1973 that carries bulk commodities like iron ore, coal and grain, its owner says.
