AmericasOperations

Section of Mississippi River remains closed following collision

Traffic on a section of the Mississippi River remained backed up at noon on Friday as US Coast Guard (USCG) and cleanup vessels continued dealing with the spillage of oil from a collision of two towboats reported on on Thursday.

The collision near Paducah, Kentucky, is believed to have released around 120,000 gallons of fuel into the water, according to Associated Press which also reported USCG aircraft were doing flyovers in an attempt to gauge the extent of the spill

A safety zone was put in place between mile markers 939-922 and around 30 ships were being held up as of noon on Friday.

USCG said five barges were damaged in the collision but the only substance spilled was oil. The barge that leaked is owned by Inland Marine Services of Paducah. There were no injuries and no fish deaths reported.

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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