Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations rescue crews assisted four people after their 70-foot tugboat, Sea Eagle, began taking on water approximately 3 miles east of Hillsboro Beach, Florida, Feb. 3, 2022. No injuries were reported. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
MIAMI — The Coast Guard, along with state and local partners, completed salvage efforts, at approximately 10 p.m., Saturday, for the grounded tugboat, Sea Eagle, and barge, after it ran aground off Hillsboro Beach.
The tugboat and barge are at Port Everglades for inspection and repairs. The barge was refloated at 10:30 a.m., Saturday.
Sector Miami’s Incident Management Division personnel worked with the responsible party and a commercial salvage company to refloat the tugboat and barge, and oversaw the removal of 9,500 gallons of diesel fuel from Sea Eagle.
“With the help of the responsible party, federal and local partners, we were able to safely and expeditiously remove the hazards from the beach,” said Cmdr. Eric Paré, the incident commander for the response. “It was inspiring to be part of such a unified response.”
Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations crews rescued four people from the 70-foot tugboat, Sea Eagle, and barge, Thursday, approximately three miles east of Hillsboro Beach.
The Sea Eagle and barge were chartered by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. These routine shipments provide regular supply service between Port Everglades, Florida, and Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center Naval Base, Bahamas. The tug and barge are owned and operated by Northcliffe Ocean Shipping & Trading and were headed to AUTEC Naval Base.
The cause of the grounding remains under Coast Guard investigation.
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