Suspicious debris from a boat that ran aground near the Dyea flats is washing ashore in Skagway. Officials advise beachgoers to exercise caution.
Two people were rescued from a sinking vessel near the Dyea Flats in Skagway over the weekend. Skagway Volunteer Fire Department received a distress call from the two individuals around 7 in the morning on Sunday. Fire Chief Joseph Rau says neither were injured.
“Our rescue boat was able to effect the rescue and we returned the two individuals to the boat harbor.”
But Rau says that wasn’t the end of it.
“It was reported that there was some debris floating along the shoreline. So the fire department and the police department went out there. It was debris from that boat that was sinking. The boat had settled on the Dyea sandbar.”
Skagway Police Chief Ray Legget advises the public to use caution while travelling along the shore in Dyea. Hypodermic needles were found among the debris that washed to shore.
“We don’t know that we can get every one of them. I don’t know to the number or how much we’re actually looking for. If we find a few of them out there I would rather let everyone be aware and be cautious of what’s around there before someone got hurt or stuck or something.”
Police Chief Legget says he doesn’t know any details about how the vessel ran aground. It appeared to be an old fishing boat, but he couldn’t say who it belonged to or how long it had been in Skagway. Local law enforcement, as well as the Coastguard and Alaska State Troopers are investigating the incident.
The fire department has been working with the Coastguard to figure out how to recover the boat. Fire Chief Rau expects that the clean up of the debris will last a couple days.
“I think this is going to be an ongoing effort to clean it up. We’re going to go out there with a dump truck and pick up the piles of stuff that we had put above the shoreline and do another combing of the beach.”
