The track of the M/V Bangkok Bridge from Feb. 19-21, 2013. (Courtesy of Rick Sypeck/Marine Exchange of Alaska.)
The Coast Guard has wrapped up its investigation of the M/V Bangkok Bridge, an 874-foot cargo ship that lost engine power in Unimak Pass this winter. They've levied a $75,000 fine against the ship's owner, K-Line, for failing to report a hazardous condition.
Federal law states that you have to notify authorities in the event of a central engine failure. The Coast Guard investigation found that the Bangkok Bridge made no attempt to notify authorities about its disabled state.
Unalaska’s Coast Guard detachment had to contact the vessel as it drifted on the edge of the eastern shipping lane, and ask if it needed assistance. The crew was able to refire the engines and make it to Summer Bay, where they anchored and completed repairs.
A fire broke out aboard the freezer longliner Blue Pacific Wednesday morning while it was tied up at the Coastal Transportation dock.
Public safety’s deputy chief, Michael Holman, says the fire appears to have been an accident. He says the source of the blaze was a space heater in the vessel’s hold, installed near pallets of a flammable packing material called “fiber.”
City council advanced a plan to rezone two chunks of commercial land for residential use at last night’s meeting. The proposals from the landowners, Coe and Phyllis Whittern and the Ounalashka Corporation, got unanimous approval from the council.
The Whitterns are trying to rezone four lots along Broadway, in the Hillside Estates subdivision -- possibly for resale. Before council voted on their request, assistant city manager Patrick Jordan advocated for it.
Emergency responders converged on the Coastal Transportation dock this morning to put out a fire on the F/V Blue Pacific. The fire was caused by a space heater in the hold, where more than 10,000 pounds of waxed cardboard was stored for boxing and packing fish installed near pallets of paper bags for packing fish.
Unalaska’s firefighters received the emergency call around 8:30 a.m. They worked with state troopers and the Coast Guard to put out the fire in about two hours. No injuries have been reported, and the vessel’s crew was safely evacuated.
At tonight's meeting, city council will consider two proposals to rezone commercial land for residential use -- possibly setting the stage for the construction of more than 50 new apartments in Unalaska.
The landowners are Coe and Phyllis Whittern and the Ounalashka Corporation. The corporation wants to rezone a lot on Biorka Drive, across from Sitka Spruce Park, for high-density residential use.
The Pribilof island of St. Paul lost an important elder this month. Mary Nicolai Bourdukofsky passed away on June 2 at age 90. As KUCB’s Lauren Rosenthal reports, Bourdukofsky was devoted to preserving Unangan culture and history.
Ambulances raced to Unalaska’s airport Sunday evening to meet a passenger who started to have seizures on a PenAir flight out of Anchorage.
Employees at the local PenAir station called 911, and emergency responders met the plane on the tarmac when it landed, at around 10:15 p.m. According to airport station manager Lowell Crezee, the patient was able to walk off the plane. Still, the person was taken to the Iliuliuk Family and Health Services clinic for treatment.
An open call for vessels that could fill in for the Tustumena ferry has ended, and the state came up empty-handed.
The Department of Transportation was looking for ships that could carry passengers and vehicles between Homer and Kodiak, and other communities in the Kodiak region, in early July while the Tusty wraps up repairs. Only one company responded -- Bering Marine Corporation of Anchorage. DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow says the vessel they offered wasn’t licensed to carry passengers, so it didn’t meet the state’s requirements for the route.
Peninsula communities still aren’t reporting any ashfall from Pavlof Volcano's newest eruption, which started on Tuesday.
PenAir isn't taking any chances, though. To avoid all contact with volcanic ash, the airline cancelled its flights to Cold Bay on Wednesday and Thursday. PenAir representative Missy Anderson says about 60 people are currently waiting to fly into Cold Bay from Anchorage.
