High winds and rough seas stall bid to salvage ship grounded off western Newfoundland

Rough weather on Tuesday forced salvage specialists to abandon their inspection of a cargo ship that ran aground in a rocky cove along Newfoundland's west coast over the weekend.

Bruce English, senior response officer with the Marine Environmental and Hazards section of the Canadian Coast Guard, told CBC News that Texas-based T&T Salvage has been tasked with drafting a plan to get the MSC Baltic III off the rocks at the edge of Cedar Cove, near Lark Harbour.

The ship had a crew of 20 aboard when it lost power in heavy seas, drifted outside the entrance to Bay of Islands and then ran aground.

"Early [Tuesday] morning, 9:30 or something, they made an attempt to get on board again and they couldn't. There was three-metre seas and 30 knots of winds," English told CBC Radio's The Broadcast.

"They had another attempt to get on board, and the conditions are just as bad, if not worse, than what they were before."

Despite powerful gusts, the crew aboard a Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter safely airlifted everyone from the vessel on Saturday.

English said there was no sign of any fuel or oil spilling from the vessel as of Tuesday afternoon.

The four-person team from T&T Salvage will assess the damage in the coming days, English said, and present a plan to the coast guard and Transport Canada about how to get the boat out of Cedar Cove safely.

The CCGS Ann Harvey is on site as part of the effort, and English said the CCGS Jean Goodwill will also join on Wednesday.

The weather hasn't provided suitable conditions for on the water operations.

English said that means a timeline around the work is still unknown.

"We have no other choice, only [to] work with the wind, the wave, the current and the tide."

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