KENNEBUNK — U.S. Coast Guard investigators are at the scene of a collision at sea off the coast of Kennebunk on Thursday that resulted in the sinking of a 80-foot tugboat.

A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard said that one of two crewmen aboard the 40-foot tugboat Helen Louise reported that their vessel had collided with the 80-foot tugboat Capt Mackintire while they had it in tow.

There was no crew aboard the Capt Mackintire at the time of the collision.

A response boat crew from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor, in New Hampshire, and the 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark, homeported in Boston, were deployed to assist at the accident site.

Arriving at the scene, the Station Portsmouth Harbor boat crew confirmed there were no injuries to the two-man tug crew and then escorted the tug Helen Louise, with the two people aboard, into Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where it is now safely moored.

Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark crewmen began to tow the Capt Mackintire attempting to bring the boat to Portland, but while in transit early Thursday, the Capt Mackintire began taking on water, forcing the crew to cut the towline and it sank in about 158 feet of water offshore near Kennebunk. Coast Guard personnel are currently monitoring the site where the stricken vessel sank. 

U.S. Coast Guard investigators are now working with federal, state, and local authorities to evaluate pollution potential and respond to reports of sheening in the area where the tug sank.

An investigation regarding the accident has been launched.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at editor @journaltribune.com.