WATCH: Canadian Navy and Coast Guard crews have assembled off the south coast of Newfoundland, trying to save an icebreaker that hit bottom. Ross Lord reports.
BURGEO, N.L. – The coast guard plans to take some non-essential personnel off the icebreaker Ann Harvey after it struck a rocky shoal Wednesday and punctured its hull about nine kilometres off the coast of southwest Newfoundland.
Coast guard Capt. Jim Chmiel said the ship is anchored nine kilometres southwest of Burgeo and is not in danger of sinking.
No injuries were reported among the 26 crew members and two cadets who were on board and the coast guard says in a statement that all personnel were safe.
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Chmiel said it plans to remove the two cadets and as many as four non-essential crew members from the Ann Harvey.
The other crew members will remain on board the ship as it waits for the arrival of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent, which will tow it to a sheltered harbour for repairs, he said.
The ship took on water in the propulsion motor room and two electrical motors are damaged, he said.
Pumps were keeping up with the flow of water coming into the damaged compartments and Chmiel said the situation was “stabilized” early Wednesday evening.
There was no marine pollution from the incident, said Chmiel, the superintendent of the coast guard’s regional operations centre.
The coast guard said it is co-ordinating its efforts with the military’s Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax.
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Once the Louis S. St-Laurent arrives, it will be on standby until another ship, the Teleost, arrives around noon on Thursday to assist in the operation.
The coast guard said the weather in the area is good, with northwest winds forecast to be 35 kilometres per hour overnight. It says the winds are favourable to the ship’s position.
The Ann Harvey was built in Halifax in 1987 and can carry 47 people.
In addition to having ice-breaking duties, the diesel-electric ship is used to tend buoys, in search and rescue operations, fisheries enforcement and the construction of marine navigational services. Its hangar can house two helicopters.
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