The U.S. Coast Guard reports that the grounded fuel barge, DBL 165-1, that went aground on Wednesday with 50,000 gallons of jet fuel, 17,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 1,000 gallons of gasoline was re-floated on Sunday afternoon’s high tide.

According to Petty Officer First Class Shawn Eggert, after lightering off approximately 70,000 gallons of fuel, the vessel was unburdened enough to re-float from the river where it lay since Wednesday. The fuel barge, owned by Crowley, is now on its way to Bethel in tow by the tugboat Nanchik, and is due to arrive there sometime tonight.

The barge had already delivered the bulk of their fuel, and was headed for the community of Kongiganak when it grounded.

The Coast Guard responded to the scene on Friday to evaluate the situation, and reported that they had found no hull damage. A Coast Guard C-130 Hercules did an overflight of the area and reported no pollution.

There was very little, or no danger of a fuel spill from the flat-bottom vessel, that is designed to land on beaches to deliver its fuel to the coastal communities.

  bethel, Coast Guard, crowley, fuel barge, grounding, kongiganak, re-float, river