COOS BAY, Ore. -- Winter storms may have made removal of the last of the wreckage of the New Carissa a little easier.

Salvage crews say that 10 percent to 15 percent of the ship appears stuck in the sand now instead of the 20 percent to 30 percent previously estimated.

The storms that turned up old shipwrecks and a pair of 19th century cannons last winter chewed away at the sand around the rusting stern section of the beached freighter.

The New Carissa ran aground in February 1999 while waiting to enter Coos Bay. It later broke apart, spilling an estimated 70,000 to 140,000 gallons of fuel oil.

A $16.4 million salvage operation is under way to pull the last section of the ship out of the sand and cut it apart for scrap.