06/08/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
New Bedford, MA – A fishing boat dredging for clams off the coast of Long Island pulled up 10 canisters that contained an unknown substance on Sunday, June 6, 2010, as reported by The Boston Globe. One of the canisters reportedly broke open onboard, releasing an unidentified chemical that caused two crewmembers to blister and choke.
The ESS Pursuit netted the canisters 45 miles south of Long Island, but dumped them back into the water when a crewmember developed blisters. The Coast Guard issued a “Captain of the port order,” demanding the boat return to port.
Two crewmembers were taken to the hospital Monday upon returning to port. The boat remained under quarantine as members of the National Guard’s hazardous material team and a Rhode Island-based firefighting unit prepared to investigate the boat.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture are investigating whether the clams caught during the trip were contaminated. The catch was sold Monday in New Bedford.
Captain Kieran Kelley told reporters that two more crewmembers were hospitalized Monday evening.
A toxicologist at UMass Medical Center who treated one of the crewmembers suffering from the contamination told WCVB-TV that the person’s symptoms were consistent with exposure to WWI–era mustard gas.
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