Oil sheen in waters near Manolis L. 'unrecoverable'

Officials with the Canadian Coast Guard say an oil sheen reported in the waters near a sunken ship in Notre Dame Baywas unrecoverable because it was so dispersed.

On Sunday, an oil sheen was spotted in the waters near the Manolis L., which sank in 1985andstill contains about 500 tonnes of fuel.

Bob Grant, a senior environmental response officer,said crews sent out to assess that sighting couldn't find enough oil to recover.

"They were redeployed to that location to assess that area again and at that time there was no pollution observed," he said.

• Cofferdam no permanent fix for Manolis L: expert

The sheen was spotted a day after crews replaced a cofferdam on the ManolisL.

This device collects leaking oil from the wreck.

Officials say there was a spill during this exercise, but crews quickly cleaned up the oil.

Grantblamed the spill on a surface swell that caused the old cofferdam to "bounce" as it was being raised.

He described the amount of oil spilled as unknown.