The Golden Ray, the massive container ship left stranded on its side in St. Simons Sound after running aground September 2019, was ablaze Friday afternoon, with flames stretching high into the air.
According to Lt. Pat Frain of the U.S. Coast Guard, the fire started when workers on the vessel used cutting torches to prepare a part of the hull for a much larger cut to come later.
Those torches started a small fire, which by Friday afternoon had become a massive blaze easily visible from the pier on St. Simons Island and billowing black smoke toward Jekyll Island.
“The smoke is so thick you cannot even see Jekyll Island,” said Sue Inman of the Altamaha Riverkeeper, watching from the water. “And the flames are just huge. They're going above the top of the ship and it was covering at least five floors, if not six floors.”
The Golden Ray is 12 stories high and still holds hundreds of cars.
Lt. Frain with the Coast Guard said all the workers on the salvage vessel around the Golden Ray were evacuated and are safe.
For a time, the fire was being live streamed on the St. Simons Unified Command Facebook page.
Frain also said so far none of the contaminants aboard the ship have made it past the floating containment booms surrounding it in the sound.
Those contaminants include some 40,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil and all the fluids contained in the cars in the hull.
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