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Fishing boat sinks; cause unknown

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The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has not determined why a fishing boat sank over the weekend in Newport Harbor, harbor patrol officials said Monday.

A vessel assist company managed to pull the 40-foot fishing trawler up and tow it to a shipyard Monday afternoon after a failed attempt Sunday night, said Sgt. John Hollenbeck.

The boat, which Hollenbeck described as “derelict” and run down, was reported sinking in the harbor about 7 a.m. Sunday by eyewitnesses. Harbor patrol deputies responded and dropped a 300-foot containment boom around the area to capture the boat’s leaking fluids on the water’s surface.

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Hazardous materials teams were called in, but the incident wasn’t serious, officials said.

“There was no major leakage that got out into the harbor,” Hollenbeck said.

No one was on the boat when it sunk and no one was injured. Authorities are investigating what caused the boat to sink.

— Joseph Serna

Twitter: @JosephSerna

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