MSC Monica Aground on St. Lawrence River
MSC Monica, Mediterranean Shipping Company container vessel, ran aground on the St. Lawrence River near Saint-Laurent, between Bécancour and Levis.
The box ship left Montreal and headed down the river, but suffered steering gear failure, which caused leaving the fairway and grounding in the sand-mud shallow.
Media reports say that the ship hardly stuck and was not able to refloat by own power. The crew requested assistance from the local authorities, which started organizing of salvage operation.
Efforts will be made to shift the vessel today. It is not disrupting traffic. The refloating of the vessel 242 meters could take several days.
In 2008, another ship from the same company, MSC Sabrina, grounded in the same area.
According to preliminary observations, there is no trace of oil around the ship and sailors are safe, always on board.
“Our teams have toured the ship and found no leakage and no pollution, " said Michel Plamondon, spokesman for the Canadian Coast Guard, QMI Agency. " The other good news is that the ship is aground outside the channel, does not interfere with navigation. ”
