Date: Aug. 11, 2006
Public Affairs Contacts:

U.S. Coast Guard: Petty Officer Sara Francis (907) 271-2660

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines: Greg Beuerman (504) 524-3342

Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation: Frank Wesser (907) 269-3062

Unified Command Press Release

Cougar Ace salvage continues; Incident Command Post and Joint Information Center in Anchorage disbanded

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Unified Command, working to right the car carrier Cougar Ace, traveled to Dutch Harbor Wednesday to oversee the mooring of the Cougar Ace and the continued salvage efforts. Swells on Monday forced the discontinuation of salvage team efforts and the relocation of the Cougar Ace to Wide Bay, Unalaska Island.

The Cougar Ace remains moored at the Icicle Seafood's Mooring Buoys in Wide Bay northwest of Dutch Harbor. The Coast Guard cutter Sycamore, motor vessel Makushin Bay, tug Gladiator, tug Sea Victory, and motor vessel Redeemer with Kashega Barge are on-scene supporting salvage and pollution response contingency operations. The Sycamore is conducting an hourly securite broadcast notifying mariners that there is a .5 nautical mile security zone around the vessel.

The salvage team is continuing to remove water from the number nine cargo deck today. As of 5 p.m. Thursday the vessel was listing at 58 degrees. No pollution or debris have been sighted in the discharged water. As the vessel is dewatered computer models are updated for the next stage of re-ballasting.

The Incident Command Post and Joint Information Center in Anchorage have been disbanded. For further Cougar Ace updates contact the officials listed at the top of this page individually.

More information is available on the Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation website at: http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/cougarace