KODIAK, Alaska (AP) -- The U.S. Coast Guard plans to use
explosives to sink a derelict Japanese ship dislodged by last
year's massive tsunami. The shrimping vessel, which has no
lights or communications systems, was floating about 195 miles
south of Sitka in the Gulf of Alaska on Thursday morning,
traveling about 1 mile per hour. The ship holds more than 2,000
gallons of diesel fuel and authorities are concerned it could
interfere with the course of other vessels as it drifts through
shipping lanes. A Coast Guard cutter was headed out to the ship
on Thursday with plans to use high explosive rounds to sink the
vessel. If left to drift, the ship would ground somewhere, said
Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Charley Hengen. The National
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental
Protection Agency studied the problem and decided it is safer to
sink the ship and let the fuel evaporate in the open water. The
Coast Guard is warning other ships to avoid the area. The
vessel, named Ryou-Un Maru, is bel