Coast Guard ship freed from sandbar near Hay River

A Canadian Coast Guard ship that got stuck on a sandbar in the harbour near Hay River, N.W.T., has now been freed.

The Dumit had been in the process of picking up buoys Saturday evening when it hit the sandbar. The vessel's crew tried to lighten the load and other Coast Guard ships tried to help tug it off the sandbar, but low water levels had stymied those efforts.

Jeremy Hennessy, a spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard, said the crew worked through the night Saturday to lighten the Dumitand offloaded gear and cargo onto the MV Vic Ingrahamand a barge.

Lindsey McDonald, a spokesperson for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said in an email that the Dumit was "safely floated off the sandbar" on Sunday night.

"It is now secured at Hay River, and there is no damage to the vessel, nor any pollution," McDonald wrote.