Dinner Cruise Boat Sinks In Lake Sunapee
SUNAPEE, NH (CBS) - A dinner boat famous for its summertime tours of Lake Sunapee was sinking in those very same waters on Friday.
"Nobody was on the boat, nobody got hurt, fortunately it was not during the summer," said one of the boat's skippers Al Peterson.
Surrounded by ice, the MV Kearsarge started taking on water Thursday night while it was docked at its winter berth in Sunapee Harbor.
The source of the leak has not been discovered.
"It's something so out of the ordinary," said Tim Fenton of Lake Sunapee Cruises, the company that owns the boat.
Officials with New Hampshire's Department of Environmental Services say there is no evidence of any oil leaks at this point, but an oil containment boom will be placed in the water as a precaution.
"That's why we're watching it, and we're making assessments on what will happen between now and when the boat is salvaged," said Raymond Reimold of New Hampshire's DES.
The MV Kearsarge has been hosting nighttime roast beef dinner buffets and tours of the lake for more than 30 years for tourists and locals.
Joan Johnson of Charlestown, New Hampshire remembers good times on board.
"It's sad, i hope they're able to restore it, pull it up, a lot of memories made on that boat for a lot of people," said Johnson.
Crews will begin to remove the boat Saturday and will check to see how bad the boat is damaged. Then they can start determining if it can ever sail the lake again.
