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Posted: Monday, July 4th, 2005 5:50 AM HST

Ship aground deploys containment boom after sheen spotted

By Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) _ The Coast Guard says a research ship that ran aground in a marine reserve deployed an oil containment boom today. Coast Guard officials say the boom was deployed after a C-130 from Barbers Point spotted a rainbow-colored sheen near the vessel. The Casitas is on a mission to clean out fishing nets and other debris from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It ran aground early yesterday morning about a thousand miles northwest of Honolulu. The seven crew members and 16 scientists aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were taken early today to North Island. This evening they were picked up by the NOAA research ship Oscar Elton Sette and taken to Midway Atoll. The Casitas sustained severe damage from accident at Pearl and Hermes Atoll in a marine reserve home to endangered monk seals, sea turtles, and delicate coral reefs. The Casitas is loaded with an estimated 30-thousand gallons of diesel fuel, three thousand gallons of gasoline and 200 gallons of lubricating oil. (Copyright 2005 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)