MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cruise accident and fuel spill in Alaska.

The cruise vessel Clipper Odyssey with 122 passengers and a crew of 31 sailing last Sunday along the Alaskan coast spilt 5,000 gallons of fuel after striking a rock.

According to a release from Clipper Cruise Line "no injuries were sustained by anyone on board" and "preliminary reports indicate the environmental impact is minimal with a report from the Coast Guard indicating there is no fuel remaining at the site".

The release indicates that "while traveling in 70-foot-deep waters off the coast of Unalaska Island (20 miles outside the city of Dutch Harbor, Alaska), at approximately 9:15 p.m. local time, July 31, 2004, the passenger vessel Clipper Odyssey "struck a previously unknown, uncharted rock". The ship was moving at five to six knots at the time of the incident and was carrying 126 passengers, 70 crew members, and two certified Alaskan pilots".

All passengers and 31 non-essential crew were safely transported to Dutch Harbor by three nearby local vessels who answered the ship's call for assistance and damage to the ship was minimal. Veteran Clipper Captain Frank Allica immediately contacted the Coast Guard, and cooperated fully in their investigation. After floating free of the submerged rock at high tide and cleared to sail by the Coast Guard, the ship made its way to Dutch Harbor under its own power. Marine engineers are now onboard to further assess the damage.

A freshwater tank, a gray-water tank (shower-drain water), and the port-side fuel tank were damaged. The damaged fuel tank was carrying approximately 5,000 gallons, which is about 20% of the tank's capacity, of marine gas oil (MGO) a lightweight diesel fuel that dissipates into the atmosphere. Reports from the Coast Guard indicate that there is no fuel remaining at the site and a third-party oil-spill-response team was dispatched from Seattle to ensure that there is no environmental impact.

Clipper CEO David Drier said he was happy to report "passengers were never in danger in this particular incident, which was described on board as simply a loud scraping noise ? passengers on deck viewing wildlife were not disrupted at all, merely curious as to the source of the noise. The crew immediately responded in a calm and professional manner"

The company expects the ship to be repaired in Alaska on time for the August 16 itinerary departing from Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The Clipper Odyssey was completing a 12-day cruise from Nome to Homer and had nearly finished the seventh day of the voyage. Built in 1989, and acquired by Clipper in 1999 the Clipper Odyssey measures 338 feet long by 51 feet wide and has a draft of 15 feet. It is registered in the Bahamas. Throughout the year, the ship visits Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the Aleutian Islands, Alaska's Inside Passage, and the islands of the South Pacific. Founded in 1982, Clipper Cruise Line, a subsidiary of INTRAV, sails four small-ship vessels worldwide.