British Columbia

No sign of fuel leak after tugboat sinks in Vancouver's harbour

There's no evidence of a fuel leak after a tugboat capsized in Vancouver's harbour on Friday evening, says a spokesman for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Plans underway to lift and remove the boat from the sea floor

Crab Park on Burrard Inlet near Centerm Terminal where two people were rescued after the tugboat they were on capsized. (Google Streetview)

There's no evidence that fuel leaked from a tugboat which capsized in Vancouver's harbour on Friday evening, says a spokesman for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Dan Bate says a coast guard boat arrived on the scene 11 minutes after the tugboat Ocean Gordon called for help around 6 p.m. PT.

The 15-metre vessel was towing a gravel barge near the Centerm Terminal, east of Crab Park in Burrard Inlet, when it capsizes and sank.

Bate says neither the coast guard nor vessels from Port Metro Vancouver have spotted any recoverable pollution at the site.

Plans are underway to lift and remove the boat from the sea floor; Western Canada Marine Response Corporation is on standby for a possible fuel leak.

Two people who were aboard the sinking vessel were rescued from the water.

The tugboat sank in relatively shallow water. The load of gravel it was towing at the time was unaffected by the sinking and later collected by another tugboat.

with files from Canadian Press