KTUU reported that a spokesman for SeaRiver Maritime, the ExxonMobil subsidiary that owns the tanker, said there's no evidence the ship, The Kodiak, actually struck the whale and dragged it into the harbor. But federal officials told KTUU "that they have no doubt that this giant of the sea and a giant oil tanker had a sad encounter."
As of Tuesday night, the dead whale was tied up in the harbor. The plan is to tow the humpback, an endangered species, out to sea and leave it to drift away.
Alaska Dispatch Publishing