Oil-laden Lake Erie shipwreck prompts emergency leak investigation
October 25, 2015
TOLEDO, OH — A sunken barge that's considered by authorities to be the worst potential polluting shipwreck in the Great Lakes is believed to be threatening Lake Erie with up to 4,700 barrels of petroleum.
A suspected leak from the Argo, a tanker barge that sank off Sandusky, Ohio, in 1937, has prompted an emergency response from the U.S. Coast Guard, which confirmed a 400-by-20 yard "discoloration" in the water near the wreck on Saturday, Oct. 24.
The Argo, discovered by a shipwreck hunter in August, may be leaking something described by divers as having a "strong solvent odor." The wreck is 44 feet down and about 8 miles east of Kelley's Island, near the U.S. and Canadian border.
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