Mysterious Red Substance Spotted On Florida’s Coast Investigated by U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a mysterious red substance that has entered the Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach.

Aerial footage captured the mysterious substance, and after a preliminary investigation, locals believed the red substance was kerosene, but the Coast Guard did not confirm the substance was kerosene.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Strasburg said investigators have yet to find the source of what caused the kerosene spill.

Here are scenes of the spill:

Mysterious red substance appears along Intracoastal in West Palm Beachhttps://t.co/HIZRFh5aKA

— WPTV (@WPTV) May 7, 2024

Mysterious red substance appears along Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach https://t.co/Z6Lr0BH4ea

— Save Democracy (@rleas) May 7, 2024

Per WPTV:

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a mysterious red substance floating along the Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach on Monday, leaving many in the community looking for answers.

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Early Monday morning, aerial video from WPTV Chopper 5 captured the scene on North Flagler along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Around 8:30 a.m., a group of women headed to yoga looked out their condo window and also saw the scene.

“We saw the spill out there, so we went down, and it smelled a little bit like oil,” Cathy Boaz said.

Boaz shared pictures of the initial scene of the red substance spreading throughout the water.

Reacting swiftly to the situation, Boaz took matters into her own hands.

Per The Palm Beach Post:

The source of a large rust-colored slick of goo that fouled the Intracoastal Waterway just south of Florida Power & Light’s heralded Manatee Lagoon remains unknown, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard investigated the substance, which was found Monday near the 5600 block of North Flagler Drive, and hired a company to clean up the spreading spill.

A red substance was found in the Lake Worth Lagoon on Monday, May 6, 2024 near the 5600 block of North Flagler Drive. The U.S. Coast Guard investigated and said it could not find a source.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Strasburg said investigators could not identify how the pollutant got into the water. It was found in an area that abuts a parking lot, where it got caught up against a seawall jutting into the Lake Worth Lagoon. The spill was about 1,200 feet south of the Manatee Lagoon.

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Cathy Boaz, who lives in a condominium near the spill, called the City of West Palm Beach on Monday morning to report the spill. She described it as oily and said a company vacuumed up the substance Monday night.