The US Coast Guard is examining more than a dozen damaged containers — some holding potentially hazardous materials — that were aboard the ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, according to a US government document obtained by CNN and a US official familiar with the matter.
Thirteen damaged containers, “some with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and/or hazardous materials (HAZMAT) contents” are being examined by an elite Coast Guard team, according to an unclassified memo from the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The memo was distributed to NGOs and critical infrastructure operators on Tuesday evening.
A Coast Guard team trained in dealing with hazardous materials is investigating the ship’s manifest to determine what was on board and any health risks there might be, a US official said.
About 1.8 million gallons of “marine diesel spill potential” from the ship is also being monitored by federal officials, according to the memo.
Estimates like that are a “worst case scenario,” the official told CNN, adding that “a lot would have to go wrong now for all that fuel to spill.”
Still, the source said, first responders are taking precautions to minimize any potential fuel spill from the ship.
1.8 million gallons is “not an unusual amount of fuel for a ship of that size to carry,” the official told CNN.
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