A BOAT CAUGHT FIRE in Kelston Lock 5 on the Kennet & Avon Canal yesterday, but no one was injured.
The boat sank and there was pollution, but this was contained in the lock, Keith Gudgin reports.
Remove vessel
The trust is working with a recovery team to remove the vessel that sank then will be clearing the pollution so that repair work can begin. There is no intimation of what type of vessel caught fire.
But the lock has been burned, particularly the bottom lock gates that are badly damaged. Picture by Canal & River Trust.
The trust tell that there is substantial loss of timber on the mitre post, the vertical structural part at the edge of each gate, as well as fire damage to other parts of the gate.
No timescale
As to the repair it is difficult to put a timescale on this as this is a complex task, we are told, so no timescale is given.
This is the second fire on the Kennet & Avon Canal this month with one between Greenham Lock 86 and Ham Lock 87 at Newbury.