February 15, 1999
Web posted at: 9:40 p.m. EST (0240 GMT)

COOS BAY, Oregon (CNN) -- Officials said Monday they may tow the bow of a grounded ship, set ablaze last week to avoid an environmental catastrophe, out to sea and sink it.

Navy specialists ignited the 639-foot New Carissa and its 400,000 gallons of fuel with a series of explosives last Thursday, fearing the ship would break up and spill more of its sludge along Oregon's pristine beaches.

Most of the fuel has burned off, but a "very thick, molasses- like" goo remains in some of the ship's cargo holds, said Alan Hoffmeister of the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Crews are continuing to try to burn off the remaining oil by dropping flames of jellied petroleum on it. Complicating matters is an approaching storm that could produce wind gusts up to 50-60 mph and 18-20 foot waves.

Officials said they are now leaning toward a plan to use a special ocean tugboat to tow the larger bow section -- containing four of the ship's five cargo holds -- 200 miles out to sea and sinking it 9,000 feet in the international waters.

"They think they can do it," Hoffmeister said.

The tug-and-sink plan, which has not been finalized, could be implemented as early as Wednesday.

Officials initially planned to have a salvage company take the charred remains of the ship apart, but that plan has been scrapped because crews would have to build a road more than a mile long over sand dunes and wetlands where at least one endangered species lives.

"They're running into one roadblock after another on that plan," Hoffmeister told CNN.

Still unresolved is what to do with the stern, the rear of the ship which is believed to be embedded in the sand.

The Japanese-owned New Carissa registered in Panama ran aground nearly two weeks ago about 150 yards off shore as it came to pick up a load of wood chips. It began leaking fuel, and its oil washed ashore along 10 miles of coast.

Hundreds of cleanup crews, dressed in hazardous-material protective gear, combed the beaches. More than 30 dead birds have been found. A number of the region's snowy plovers, a threatened species, have been found alive but covered in oil.