Chopper’s data box eludes divers

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Divers on Friday failed to turn up the black box of a Coast Guard helicopter that crashed into the Bering Sea during a rescue attempt of a grounded freighter’s crew.

A commercial diving team spent hours searching for the helicopter’s data recorder after its transmitter was heard in the water near the stern section of the remains of the 738-foot Selendang Ayu.

“They could hear it pinging, but they just couldn’t find it,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Sarah Francis.

The divers planned another recovery attempt at the next break in the weather, which may not be until Tuesday.

The helicopter crashed with 10 people on board shortly before the soybean freighter ran hard aground and split in two on Dec. 8 off Unalaska Island, 800 air miles southwest of Anchorage.

Four were rescued by another helicopter, but six crewmembers were lost at sea and are presumed dead.

The wreckage of the helicopter was later spotted washed ashore, covered with oil.

Officials hope to recover the recorder to discover why the aircraft crashed.

Meanwhile, oil spilled from the wreckage of the freighter is leaking too slowly and spreading too thinly to skim or break up with chemicals, spill responders said Friday.

The freighter was carrying soybeans, 424,000 gallons of intermediate fuel oil and 18,000 gallons of diesel to China when it lost power and rammed into a shoal after drifting for nearly two days.

The bow section has sunk almost out of view after several days of harsh weather and the 176,000 gallons of oil in that section is presumed lost. The grounding cleaved the ship where another 40,000 gallons of fuel had been stored.

The slow leaks and rough Bering Sea have kept the spilled fuel from forming a slick large enough to effectively use an offshore skimmer or chemical dispersants, Francis said.

“Normally when a spill happens, (a slick) is there, like the Exxon Valdez. That’s not the case with this one. It’s come out in little blobs, slowly,” Francis said.

Two near-shore skimmers and one offshore skimmer have arrived in Dutch Harbor. The near-shore skimmers should be ready for use in nearby Skan Bay by Sunday, she said.

A response team of state and federal agencies has approved the use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil. But Francis said the dispersants also are most effective in concentrated areas of oil, and responders are hesitant to use the chemicals at the site of the wreck, which is near sensitive wildlife habitats.

Today’s dispersants are less toxic than what used to be used in spills, but “we would rather not introduce something new into the water,” Francis said.

The skies cleared Friday and responders were able to fly over more of the area, searching for spilled oil around the all of Unalaska Island and nearby Bogoslof Island. They spotted no accumulations of fuel, Francis said.

A four-man team boarded the Selendang Ayu and began preparations for an operation to remove the oil remaining in two tanks in the stern section of the vessel. The salvage team cut away obstacles on the deck and began building a helicopter landing platform so that equipment and personnel could safely be brought aboard.

Spill responders also took advantage of the break in the weather to replace boom that hurricane-force winds had dislodged earlier in the week. The boom was meant to keep oil from reaching streams on the island, although officials acknowledged that the high winds had caused some fuel to spill over.

Test crab pots were set to determine the water quality and whether the area’s tanner crabs have been affected by the spill. The tanner crab fishery is scheduled to open Jan. 15, and Department of Environmental officials are to report on the effects of the spill on the crab population to the Division of Commercial Fisheries by Sunday.

The weather was expected to turn harsh again, with a gale warning in effect Friday night. Sixteen-foot seas and 40-knot winds were expected to blow into the area by today.

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