Diesel was spilled into Howe Sound after a barge sank near Port Mellon, B.C., on Wednesday.

The Canadian Coast Guard said it responded with two of its ships after the vessel went down in the early morning. 

A coast guard statement said the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, Squamish Nation and provincial officials all responded as well. 

A boom was placed around the spill area, about 17 kilometres north of Gibsons, as crews worked to recover “a surface sheen of diesel” from the water.