The Coast Guard says the collision Wednesday evening near Columbus, Kentucky, damaged at least one barge carrying clarified slurry oil. The cargo tank was ruptured, causing an unknown amount of oil to spill into the river.
Officials say the river is closed from mile markers 938 to 922. The Coast Guard said Thursday that the maximum amount of oil that could have spilled is 250,000 gallons. The agency says it's working with the barge owner and an oil spill response organization to determine the exact amount of oil that poured into the water.
While the US Coast Guard has placed a river traffic restriction on a section of the Mississippi River near Columbus to assist with response to a leaking barge loaded with clarified slurry oil, the Dorena-Hickman ferry is reportedly outside of the safety zone restrictions and is able to continue normal operation.
The ferry has been in communication with the US Coast Guard Operations Center in Louisville and gained assurance that the normal path for crossing the river between the Kentucky landing in the Hickman Harbor and the Missouri landing near Dorena falls just south of the restricted area. This has allowed the ferry to maintain normal operating hours. The cause of the collision is being investigated.
Original Story: The Coast Guard is investigating a towboat collision on the Mississippi River near Columbus in Hickman County. According to the Coast Guard, they received a call about the collision between two towboats shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday. There is reportedly damage to a barge containing clarified slurry oil, and it is leaking an unknown amount into the water. The barge can carry up to a million gallons of the oil. The Coast Guard is working with the barge owner and an oil response company to determine how much of the slurry oil has been leaked into the Mississippi.
