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Dinner cruise catamaran grounded in Lahaina Harbor channel

Pacific Whale Foundation officials were working Tuesday to have their dinner cruise catamaran freed after running aground close to Maui’s shoreline.

The 65-foot vessel was entangled on a buoy near the Lahaina Harbor channel entrance and went aground on the north side of the harbor channel, according to an emergency call made at 3:35 p.m. Monday.

No one was injured in the accident. Passengers were off-loaded, and there was no report of a fuel leak, county fire officials said.

Paul Sensano, the state boating manager for Maui, said the foundation moved the vessel to softer ground and was planning to free it during high tide Wednesday morning.

Sensano said the state’s boating division is helping to determine the best way to remove the vessel and minimize damage. The division said an aquatic biologist was at the scene Tuesday to monitor and assess reef damage.

Efforts to pull the vessel off the reef during high tide Tuesday morning were unsuccessful, Sensano said.

After the vessel is brought to shore, the boating division plans to conduct a assessment of the reef to determine whether the accident caused any damage.

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