The St. Simons Sound Incident Response Unified Command has successfully completed the oil pumping of all accessible tanks from the M/V Golden Ray.
According to a release sent out Thursday, in the past few weeks, salvage workers and divers gained access to 26 fuel tanks inside the Golden Ray.
More than 320,000 gallons of oil and water mixture were removed. The Unified Command will continue the forensic investigation to determine an accurate volume of fuel onboard at the time of the overturn incident and the amount discharged into the environment.
To improve the stability of the wreck, Unified Command has begun the removal of the vessel’s propeller, propeller shaft and rudder, which weighs a total of approximately 130 tons.
The Unified Command says plans for the construction of an environmental protection barrier and the full removal of the wreck continue to be evaluated.
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