MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Third vessel in less than a month to run aground in north Canada Arctic region

MV Clipper Adventurer struck an uncharted rock, no pax were injured

A fuel tanker loaded with 9 million litres of diesel fuel has run aground in Canada's Far North but none of the fuel has spilled, the Canadian Coast Guard said on Thursday.

The 117 metre vessel, called the Nanny, got hung up on a sand bar southwest of the community of Gjoa Haven in the territory of Nunavut on Wednesday, said Larry Trigatti, superintendent of environmental response in the Canadian Coast Guard's central and Arctic region.

“There's no pollution. We've had two over-flights of the area,” Trigatti said. “The vessel has not reported any damage. There is no egress of water into the vessel and the crew is safe.”

The vessel is owned by Woodward's Oil and was carrying the diesel fuel to supply villages in the remote region.

Canadian Coast Guard ship Henry Larsen has anchored itself within kilometers of the MV Nanny, watching for any potential leaks.

Woodward's Oil has been working with Transport Canada on a plan to get the tanker dislodged. Nunavut government officials say under that plan, which could take days to execute, the company will have to bring a second tanker into the Northwest Passage.

The second tanker will then sidle up to the MV Nanny and siphon diesel out until the beached ship becomes light enough to float again.

The MV Nanny is the third ship in the past month to run aground in Canada's Arctic waters.

The MV Clipper Adventurer, a cruise ship, ran aground on Aug. 27 on an uncharted rock between Port Epworth and Kugluktuk, Nunavut. None of the 128 passengers aboard the cruise ship was injured, but they were trapped in the vessel for two days before a coast guard icebreaker arrived and took them to Kugluktuk.

On Aug. 8, another tanker owned by Woodward's Oil ran aground in a harbour near Pangnirtung, a community on southern Baffin Island, during low tide. As with the MV Nanny, that tanker spilled no fuel. It was dislodged in high tide hours later.