Ship leaking oil into Gulf

Pollution responders remain at the scene of a 12,000 gallon bunker fuel discharge from a vessel in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil is leaking through a reported five centimeter hole about five feet below the waterline of the motor vessel Pac Alkaid, which is anchored 10 miles from Southwest Pass.

A sheen has washed up on the rocks of the Southwest Pass jetty. The Coast Guard and O'Brien's Response Management are on site containing and cleaning the discharge. The cause of the hole in the vessel's starboard fuel tank is unknown. The Pac Alkaid has a 120,000 gallon fuel oil capacity.

The vessel reported the discharge to the Coast Guard at 2:00 a.m. when it was anchored about five miles from the jetty. The Coast Guard later ordered it relocated further out after winds pushed the sheen onto shore.