Canada Recovers Barge That Sank in 1970
Salvage workers safely lifted a barge loaded with oil and toxic heating fluid from the ocean floor this week, a successful climax to Canada’s most costly and complex salvage operation.
The salvage operation was aimed at preventing the barge’s cargo--3,100 tons of oil and 7.2 tons of heating fluid laced with now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs--from sullying the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Since the barge sank in a 1970 storm, about 1,000 tons of oil have leaked from its hull.
There was no sign of PCBs seeping into water during the salvage operation, and only trace amounts of oil were detected, officials said.
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