Ship’s master interviewed as TSB probes possible grounding at B.C. terminal

SQUAMISH, B.C. – Transportation Safety Board investigators are sifting through the details as they try to determine if a cargo ship actually ran aground at the deep-water bulk terminal in Squamish, B.C.

TSB spokesman Mohan Raman says investigators have spoken to the master and other senior officers aboard the Kai Xuan, and have also taken the voice data recorder from the 200 metre-long bulk carrier.

Raman says divers have found no damage on the hull of the vessel, that remains docked at the head of Howe Sound, 50 kilometres north of Vancouver.

He says an update could come in a day or two, but it’s too early to say exactly what happened.

The Kai Xuan, which is registered in Marshall Islands, is free to leave port when scheduled, and officials have already said there is no danger to the environment.

The ship travelled to B.C. from Korea earlier this month and stopped briefly in Nanaimo before reaching Squamish on Dec. 18.