POINT REYES (CBS SF) — Rough weather is hampering efforts to rescue the 564-foot container ship adrift approximately seven miles off the coast of Point Reyes, the Coast Guard said Saturday.
The container ship Wan Hai 176 lost engine power and went adrift Friday afternoon. The Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Marin County were working together to rescue the ship.
The National Weather Service issued a gale warning for the waters off Point Reyes through Sunday morning with winds gusting to 38 mph and waves 15 to 20 feet.
A towing vessel, the Tug Stacey Foss, arrived around 10 p.m. Friday and two other tugboats, the Tug Delta Deanna and Tug Delta Billie, arrived around 2:30 a.m. Saturday to help.
Due to the rough seas the towing vessels have been unable to deploy lines to tow the ship, the Coast Guard said.
The Wan Hai, a Singapore-flagged vessel with 21 people on board, remained at anchor as the rescue attempts continued. The ship has approximately 39,000 gallons of fuel on board, about eight percent of its total capacity. There have been no reports of pollution, the Coast Guard said.
On Friday, the crew radioed that the Wan Hai 176 began experiencing engine problems around 1 p.m. while en route to Seattle. The captain reported they were unable to properly anchor and were moving closer to shore at 3:45 p.m.
Tugs were contacted at 6 p.m. Friday and steamed to the scene.
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Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.