A tugboat crewman was killed and two others missing after the boat struck a barge and sank on New York’s Hudson River early on Saturday morning.
The incident happened near the Tappan Zee Bridge when the 90-foot tugboat Specialist, with a three-man crew, hit a barge that is part of a construction project on the bridge.
The Specialist was pulling a different barge that was carrying a crane when the incident occurred. It sank in a matter of minutes.
US Coast Guard (USCG), New York state police and other fire and police agencies were involved in the search for the tug’s crew which, as of early afternoon, recovered only the one dead crewman, not yet named.
There was a spillage of around 5,000 gallons of fuel, which the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was tackling.
The Specialist was en route from New York’s state capital Albany to Jersey City.
Back in 2013 a Tappan Zee Bridge construction barge was involved in another fatal collision that left two people dead.
The $3.9bn new bridge construction project entails the complete replacement of the old bridge, which was constructed in 1956 with a 50-year expected lifespan and is already 10 years past that. It began in 2013 and has a 2018 expected completion.
