■ NANTUCKET DROWNING A man drowned at a Nantucket beach amid rough seas after a high surf advisory was issued by the National Weather Service Wednesday due to Hurricane Gert located hundreds of miles off shore. The man was found off Nobadeer Beachshortly after 12 p.m., when around a dozen swimmers there became caught in a rip current, Nantucket police Chief William Pittman said. “There were probably close to a dozen people at the beach outside of the lifeguard zone,’’ Pittman said. “They appeared to be in distress.’’ Pittman said around six to eight lifeguards entered the choppy waters to assist the distressed swimmers when “one of the lifeguards saw something or somebody in the water 300 yards away.’’ The lifeguard swam out and found that “an individual was face down in the water, floating,’’ Pittman said.

■ FUEL SPILL The Coast Guard oversaw the cleanup of an oil spill in New Bedford Harbor after a fishing vessel sank early Wednesday morning, the Coast Guard said. The 62-foot Challenge sank around 3:50 a.m. at a pier off Hervey Tichon Avenue, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The vessel carried about 7,000 gallons of fuel. Coast Guard officials did not estimate how much of that fuel was discharged into the harbor but said the spill spread 1.5 miles into Fairhaven. The cause of the vessel’s sinking is under investigation, officials said. No one was on the boat.

■ BULL SPOTTED A bull that escaped from a Littleton livestock auction Tuesday night was spotted several times in Ayer, police said Wednesday. Ayer police said officers from their department as well as the Massachusetts Environmental Police were tracking the 1,100-pound animal after it escaped from the Farmer’s Livestock Auction and Market Exchange auction.

■ CRASH ARRAIGNMENT A 22-year-old man accused of leaving the scene of a fatal crash in Quincy on Aug. 7 was arraigned in Quincy District Court on Wednesday. Christopher Murchsurrendered to Quincy police Tuesday night, Captain John Dougan said. Dougan said Murch, of Quincy, was driving a Ford utility truck with two passengers and heading toward Germantown on Aug. 7 when the vehicle struck two utility poles on Palmer Street and flipped over. Allan Dunne, an 18-year-old from Quincy, was killed in the crash, and another 17-year-old Quincy man suffered serious injuries, Dougan said. Murch pleaded not guilty to charges of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation among other charges, a Norfolk District Attorney official said.