Unalaska, AK – Representatives of the Coast Guard and a salvage company fielded questions from the community of Unalaska Tuesday night about what's going to happen now that the Cougar Ace car carrier is moored in Dutch Harbor.

A salvage crew began pumping water out of the car carrier in Dutch Harbor Wednesday morning. The listing vessel was brought into the harbor Tuesday afternoon after being towed for eight days from the location where it initially turned on its side, in the North Pacific south of Adak Island.

Coast Guard Captain Mark DeVries answered questions about the project at a well-attended Unalaska City Council meeting Tuesday night. DeVries said today that he understands the community's concerns about bringing the Cougar Ace into Dutch Harbor. But he said the other alternative, bringing the wounded ship into Chernofski Harbor near the western end of Unalaska, would've presented its own problems.

On-scene coordinators won't speculate on how long it will take to bring the ship upright from the 60-degree angle at which it now sits. Their first order of business is to take water out of the Cougar Ace's one flooded car deck, a process that salvers had attempted at sea on Monday but scrapped when weather conditions made the job too difficult.