Work underway to release fuel trapped in barge at Haida Gwaii

QUEEN CHARLOTTE, B.C. — The Canadian Coast Guard says crews are working carefully to release gas that accumulated inside a barge carrying a fishing lodge that beached after it broke away from its anchorage at Haida Gwaii.

Westcoast Resorts’ Hippa barge came loose from its mooring Saturday night and drifted for several hours toward Skidegate Inlet near the village of Queen Charlotte.

Canadian Coast Guard Incident Commander Tim McCann says crews inspected the barge hull Tuesday and used air quality monitors to ensure their safety because some potentially explosive gas is trapped in the body of the vessel from a possible ruptured fuel line.

John Kervel, incident commander with the B.C. Environment Ministry, says crews are also planning to open up hatches on the barge to create natural vents and will use forced air to ventilate the vessel.