LAPUSH — A dredging barge that capsized Monday night near James Island at the mouth of the Quillayute River — prompting the rescue of three crew members — sank in about 10 feet of water on Tuesday.
None of the unidentified crew members was injured, said Coast Guard Station Quillayute River personnel, who took them off the vessel at about 9:30 p.m. Monday.
The 40-foot dredging barge was one of two being used by Nehalem River Dredging to remove sediment from the mouth of the Quillayute River in the harbor at LaPush in a $1 million contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Two rescue boats, 47 feet and 25 feet long, responded to a report of the vessel hung up on its anchor and taking on water with three people aboard at about 8:50 p.m. Monday, said Senior Chief Scott Lowry of Coast Guard Station Quillayute River.
“While we were out there, the barge continued to take on water and continued to lift,” he said.
“Once it was at 60 degrees turned over, we evacuated the crew and started the boom to contain any oil that could have leaked.”
The crew of the 25-foot boat rescued all three people off the barge without injury and took them to the Coast Guard station.
The 47-foot boat crew was able to get the dredge out of the river channel.
By 8 a.m. Tuesday, the dredge had overturned in about 10 feet of water, at the mouth of the Quillayute River about 200 yards from James Island, Lowry said.
“At about 10:30 p.m., it went aground because of the tide,” he said.
“Then as the tide started coming back in, it continued to turn over and was then about 90 degrees turned over.”
The Coast Guard put a containment boom around the vessel to contain any fluids that might leak from it.
“At the Coast Guard, our primary concern was the crew,” Lowry said.
“We are now monitoring it — along with the [state] Department of Ecology — for any signs of leaking fluids.
“Right now, the leaking has been very, very minimal, but there is about150 gallons of diesel and about 125 gallons of hydraulic fluid on board.”
Global Diving Salvage was hired to evaluate the situation and prepare the barge to be re-floated and taken back to Oregon.
“The company has some machinery that is large enough to move the barge and take it back to Oregon where it they can take a better look at it,” Lowry said.
“At this point, it is the owner’s responsibility to remove it.”
Since October, Nehalem River Dredging of Nehalem, Ore., has moved nearly 80,000 cubic yards of sediment with a hydraulic pipe from the river channel to Rialto Beach and the shores of James Island.
The material is being used to replenish the beaches and uplands.
Dredging removes sediment that can cause navigational hazards when the water becomes too shallow.
The Quillayute River Marina is the only emergency harbor between Neah Bay and Grays Harbor and is important to the economy of the Quileute tribe.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
