A salvage company hired to refloat a Yugoslavian ship grounded in the Dry Tortugas may try to free the vessel Thursday at high tide with a large ocean-going tugboat, Coast Guard officials said.
Coast Guard Capt. Herbert Robinson was to meet with the salvage master on board the Mavro Vitranic to consider whether to undertake the effort at high tide, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Karonis."Basically, they are going to get everyone in concurrence on this and see if the conditions are right," he said. The effort depends in part on whether salvage workers are able to remove the remaining fuel oil from the ship.
"The most important thing is to get the oil off," Karonis said. "If this thing spills, it is going to end up in the (Fort Jefferson National) Monument area. If it goes east, it is going to go into Florida Bay and the Keys."
As of 8 a.m., about 200 tons of the 390 tons of fuel aboard the ship, which has done massive damage to coral reefs, had been unloaded onto barges, Karonis said.
The Smit London, a tugboat, would be used to pull the ship free if officials decide to do it, he said.