Some folks on the eastern edge of West Seattle are noticing helicopters relating to this, so if you haven’t heard, a boat partially sank at its berth on the Duwamish overnight, and authorities are handling what is described so far as a 100-gallon diesel spill that resulted. KING5‘s morning-newscast report is embedded above; the latest media update from the WA Department of Ecology says the US Coast Guard and Port of Seattle are working with the state on the incident. 2:12 PM UPDATE: The latest from the Dept. of Ecology, which says the boat will be removed from the water, among other updates – read on:

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), U.S. Coast
Guard and the Port of Seattle continue to respond an oil spill at Harbor
Island Marina in Seattle .

Port police received a report shortly after two this morning that a
vessel had sunk at its mooring at the port’s Harbor Island Marina,
located on the southern tip of the island. The 65-foot Angel Rae is
partially submerged. An undetermined amount of diesel fuel escaped from
the vessel’s fuel tanks.

A spill-response contractor this morning placed floating boom around the
vessel to stop the spread of oil on the water’s surface. A diver
plugged fuel-tank air vents from which the fuel was escaping. Cleanup
crews pumped out approximately 100 gallons of diesel that remained in
the boat’s fuel tanks.

The spilled fuel spread out quickly to create a thin patchy sheen on the
water’s surface. The sheen extended within several feet of shore
northward – approximately 300 yards along the East Waterway and 200
yards along the West Waterway.

Cleanup crews on boats patrolled the sheen area looking for patches
dense enough to remove from the water with oil-absorbent cleanup pads.
Inside the boomed area around the boat, crews placed and removed
hundreds of the two-foot square pads.

The cleanup effort received assistance from the King County Sheriff’s
Office which flew its helicopter over the spill area at sunrise and
provided video of the sheen to Ecology.

The Port of Seattle will be removing the vessel from the harbor and
taking it to dry dock.