The Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) is still trying to source the origin of the vessel that overturned off the Cove Eco Industrial Park, Tobago, on Wednesday, setting off an environmental disaster.
TEMA’s Director, Allan Stewart, said they were able to confirm the name of the boat –Gulf Stream – but said its identification number is yet to be verified.
He also noted: “There are no souls on board, so the theory is that this vessel may have been disrupted way out of Trinidad and Tobago and just drifted into our waters…The hull itself is creating what we call a pocket, so it would be semi-submerged in deep waters.”
Stewart said having a name of the vessel however, will help narrow the search down to determine where exactly the vessel originated from.
The boat is leaking oil 200 metres off the coast of Tobago.
Stewart said “following a trail of debris that the divers were able to investigate, there were chains that had broken off, so it appears to be cargo-type vessel.”
The Tobago Emergency Operations Centre (TEOC) has been activated at Level 2 (Orange) and a cleanup plan with amalgamated personnel from CERT, Public Health, CEPEP. and URP, Civil Conservation Corps (CCC), Department of Natural Resources and Environment Strategies had been deployed, TEMA said.
The vessel was estimated to be approximately 330 feet in length. The Agency said the vessel may have been carrying lumber and sand.