Sunken Towboat Successfully Raised

Workers have successfully raised and moved a sunken towboat on the Mississippi River near Columbus.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the vessel Todd Brown was raised and transported to the Ingram repair facility on Wednesday.

There are currently no restrictions to commercial or recreational vessel traffic due to the incident.

Coast Guard officials say about 235 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled from the vessel during the 9-day salvage operation. SWS Enviromental Services was on scene for the duration of the incident, and contained and collected the spilled fuel.

Responders also safely removed over 10,500 gallons of oily water from the vessel, preventing any further discharge. The remaining onboard fuel will be removed at the repair facility.

The vessel sank on April 17 along the right descending bank of the Lower Mississippi River. It had 17,500 gallons of diesel fuel, 150 gallons of lube oil, and 150 gallons of hydraulic oil on board.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.