AmericasOperations

Mississippi bridge struck for third successive day

The Vicksburg Railroad Bridge over the Mississippi River was struck by a barge towboat on Thursday, making it three successive days in which different towboats or barges had hit the bridge.

The spate of accidents at the bridge have been attributed to the high water levels and faster currents that resulted from last week’s storms and flooding in the US Midwest region.

In this latest incident a barge being pushed by towing vessel Robert D. Byrd struck the bridge, also known as the US 80 bridge, at Vicksburg, a city in the state of Mississippi.

On Tuesday the towboat Ron W. Callegan was pulling 22 barges with a cargo of coal when it ran into the bridge. Nine barges broke loose and two of them sank.

Wednesday saw the towboat Inez Andreas strike the bridge, causing two barges to break free, one of which sank.

No injuries or pollution were reported from the incidents.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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