Federal authorities Thursday boarded the container vessel Beijing in Long Beach, identifying it as a second ship under investigation in the Orange County oil spill.
Authorities from the U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board believe a ship’s anchor hit an oil pipeline off Huntington Beach and eventually led to the Oct. 2 spill.
Braden Rostad, chief of investigations for Los Angeles-Long Beach, determined that the Beijing was involved in a Jan. 25 anchor-dragging incident during heavy weather at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Coast Guard said in a statement. As a result of the Coast Guard findings, it has designated the ship’s owners, Capetanissa of Liberia and the operator V-Ships Greece Ltd. as parties of interest in the investigation.
Rostad had previously identified the MSC Danit, another large cargo vessel that was being investigated for the dragging incident.
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