Final canal boat winched from Whitchurch breach - as attention turns to investigating catastrophic failure
The third and final boat stranded by the shocking Whitchurch canal collapse nearly four weeks ago has been rescued - with attention now turning to investigating what caused the breach.
A spectacular operation has seen all three boats affected by the collapse removed, leaving just a giant hole in what was part of the Llangollen Canal.
The final boat removed was Sefton, which was pulled from the mud yesterday evening (Thursday, January 15).
The boat, which is owned by Bob Wood, had sunk into the soft mud at the bottom of the hole, with engineers using specialist equipment to free the barge before it could be winched out of the breach.
The operation involved creating a trench to allow the boats to be towed out with a 30ft winch.
The first boat rescued was Pacemaker.
Pacemaker had been left teetering over the breach after the December 22 collapse.
It was pulled away from the scene and refloated using artificially created dams earlier this week.
The second boat rescued was Ganymede: one of two, along with Sefton, which was swallowed by the breach as millions of gallons of water flowed out of the canal, down the embankment and onto the field below.
Julie Sharman, Canal & River Trust chief operating officer, said they were pleased to have rescued all the boats affected by the collapse.
She said the boats will be taken away to assess their condition, and any work required, before attention turns to investigating the cause of the catastrophic failure.
She said: "It's a real delight to see both boats removed from the breach hole.
"A huge amount of planning went into this recovery operation and now the boats are out they'll be refloated before they are taken away to assess what work is needed.
"Now the boats are recovered our focus for next few weeks will be on the investigation into what caused the breach."
