The Coast Guard has towed a container ship to safety in San Francisco after the vessel was briefly stranded near the coast of Point Reyes last weekend.
The Wan Hai 176 was carrying a large load of container sized cargo from Oakland to Seattle on Friday afternoon when a member of its crew radioed to the Coast Guard that they had lost engine power and could not successfully lay anchor.
The 564 foot container ship, which embarked from the Port of Oakland at 11:30 a.m., was about 12 miles due west of Point Reyes when it lost power.
The Coast Guard deployed both helicopters and tugboats to the scene. Authorities initially worried the ship may have been leaking fuels, but after flyovers by two helicopters and discussions with the crew onboard, they determined no fuel had leaked into the Pacific Ocean.
The ship drifted six miles overnight until the rescue crew was able to secure both anchors on Saturday. A Coast Guard spokesperson told KCBS Radio on Saturday that poor weather conditions made it challenging to hook up its tow lines, with 12 to 15 foot seas and upwards of 50 noughts.
As a result, Coast Guard crews waited until Sunday, when conditions improved, to tow the disabled ship to the port of San Francisco Bay.
None of the 21 people on board the vessel were injured.
The ship is expected to remain at anchorage until its engines have been fixed and its been inspected.
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