Massive Alaska Quake Eyed as Cause for Sunken Ship’s Leak

A line of cars evacuating the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska, after a tsunami warning was issued following a magnitude 8.2 earthquake in the Alaska Peninsula, on July 28, 2021. Sarah Knapp, Homer News via AP

JUNEAU, Alaska—A ship that sank off Kodiak Island four decades ago has started to leak diesel fuel, and a state official suspects ground shaking from last month’s massive magnitude 8.2 earthquake might be the reason.

The vessel sank in 1989 in Womens Bay, “and it’s been resting there since,” Jade Gamble, the state’s on-scene spill coordinator, told CoastAlaska.