Vessels supporting US-built Gaza aid pier wash away in heavy seas
Al Jazeera
CENTCOM said that four vessels had broken free from their moorings, but that pier was still functional.
Waves have swept away vessels supporting the United States-built pier installed to transfer aid to Gaza, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said.
In a statement on Saturday, CENTCOM noted that during the transportation of humanitarian aid, the US floating dock was disconnected from the small boat tugging it and the vessels broke free from their moorings with two of them now anchored on the beach near the pier.
Part of the dock later drifted towards Israel’s Ashdod shore, while the third and fourth vessels have beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon, CENTCOM added.
No injuries have been reported so far and efforts to recover the vessels are under way with assistance from the Israeli and US navies.
Reporting from Washington DC, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said that the Pentagon has stressed that the pier still remained fully functional.
