Investigators believe that a twelve hundred-foot (three hundred and sixty-six-meter) cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas jammed an underwater oil pipeline and pulled it over the seafloor, some months before a leak from the line spoiled the Southern California seashore with crude. Furthermore, in an effort to chase down the reason for the spill, a team of federal investigative agents boarded the Panama-registered MSC Danit some hours after the huge ship reached this weekend off the Port of Long Beach. In the exact same zone, the leak was revealed in early October.

During a previous visit by the ship during a big sea storm in January, agents believe its anchor drew for an indefinite distance before striking the sixteen-inch (forty-centimeter) steel pipe, Coast Guard lieutenant j.g. SondraKay Kneen said on Sunday. Kneen said that the impact would knock a one-inch-thick piece of concrete out of the pipe and pull it over hundred feet (thirty meters), bending but not breaching the line.

Further, Kneen said that still undecided whether the influence caused the October leak, or either if something else hit the line at a later date or failed amid a prior issue. She said that they are still searching for several scenarios and vessels. On Saturday, the Coast Guard designated the operator and owner as parties of interest in its probe into the fall, projected to release around twenty-five thousand gallons (about 94635 liters) of crude oil into the sea waters, killing fish and mammals and birds.

The National Transportation Safety Board

According to the company, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, the DANIT’s operator, headquartered in Switzerland and has a fleet of about six hundred vessels and over one hundred thousand workers. The representatives of MSC didn’t respond instantly to email messages seeking remarks. However, a security guard contacted the headquarters of the company in Geneva and said that the headquarters would remain close until Monday.

The Coast Guard identified the owner of the vessel as Dordellas Finance Corporation. According to marine traffic monitoring websites, the DANIT arrived in Long Beach this weekend after voyaging from China. Moreover, the probe includes different agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board. Kneen denied saying any harm was found to an anchor after a team of at least 5 investigative members consumed around maximum Saturday abroad the ship.

Previously, investigators boarded at least two other vessels, and they are probing logs kept by the captains of the ships, engineers and officers, and trip data recorders – just similar to the so-called black box on airplanes. Amplify Energy, the Houston-based owner of the damaged pipeline, expressed gratitude towards the Coast Guard for its continuous work on the case.

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