Barge and Tanker Collide

The Coast Guard says it probably will be at
least several days before the Mississippi River can be reopened at
New Orleans. But the captain of the port, Captain Lincoln Stroh,
emphasizes that it all depends on how quickly a big oil spill can
be cleaned up.
A collision with a 600-foot tanker early Wednesday broke a barge
that had just been loaded with more than 419,000 gallons of heavy,
almost tar-like fuel oil.
Stroh says investigators don't yet know whether the crash broke
all three tanks on the barge. But he says they're assuming the
worst.
Nobody was injured. Stroh says that means officials can focus
for now on the cleanup.
The accident did only minor damage to the double-hulled tanker
Tintomara.
Stroh says that, as of late Wednesday morning, 25 ships were
backed up -- 10 heading upriver and 15 downriver.
Lieutenant Anastacia Visneski, a U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman,
says both crews reported the accident immediately after it occurred
about 1:40 a.m., just upriver from the twin bridges between New
Orleans' east and west banks.