Tour boat crashes into USVI coral reef (AP)
27.07.2007 21:35 Around the world - Source: Yahoo travel
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - A catamaran carrying 14 tourists ran aground into a coral reef in shallow waters around the smallest island of this U.S. Caribbean territory, authorities said Thursday. There were no injuries. "Everyone was safe and accounted for," said Mark Marshall, chief ranger for the Virgin Islands National Park, which covers more than half the island of St. John. Enforcement officers with the Department of Natural Resources were measuring the damage to the fragile reef from the crash of the double-hulled catamaran, the owner of which could face fines, according to spokesman Jamal Neilsen. Coral reefs are already suffering from warmer ocean temperatures associated with climate change. As much as 40 percent of coral in waters around the U.S. Virgin Islands died in 2005.
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