Investigators board ship that was anchored near oil pipeline

By MICHAEL BIESECKER, STEFANIE DAZIO and MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has boarded a massive cargo ship as it investigates the rupture of an offshore oil pipeline that sent crude washing up on Souther California beaches. Investigators want to know whether a ship anchor snagged and bent the pipeline off Huntington Beach. A U.S. official told The Associated Press that the ship is a focus of the spill investigation.  The AP reviewed tracking data from MarineTraffic that appeared to show the German-flagged Rotterdam Express made three unusual movements over two days that appeared to put it over the pipeline. Both MarineTraffic and Hapag-Lloyd, the company that operates the ship, say the GPS location data was erroneous.