Sunken Barge Closes Channel Near Paducah

A rock barge remained sunken at Ohio River Mile 941, days after the lead port barges of two tows collided. No one was injured.

Yazoo River Towing was the salvor and was working to remove rock from the barge and refloat it, said Lt. Adam Denmark, public affairs officer and prevention department head for the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Paducah, Ky.

The Coast Guard closed the river from Mile 940 to Mile 941 in Paducah shortly after being notified of the collision about 10 p.m. September 12, but allowed a one-way traffic pattern with no meeting, passing or overtaking from Mile 940.5 to Mile 941 beginning the next morning. The channel passing beneath the Kentucky span of the Interstate 24 bridge connecting Paducah, Ky., with Metropolis, Ill., was closed to traffic, but the channel beneath the Illinois span remained open and navigable. The barge was sunk just downriver from the bridge.

The Coast Guard advised mariners to reference available vertical clearance information for air draft requirements and to transit at the slowest safe speed.

The Coast Guard received a call that a barge in the tow of the mv. Jackson Platte and one in the tow of the mv. Green Wing had collided after the vessels had made passing arrangements, Denmark said. Preliminary reporting indicated there appeared to have been some kind of miscommunication, he added. The Coast Guard continued to investigate.

The Jackson Platte had a tow of 15 rock barges, including the one that sank, Denmark said. It collided with a tank barge in the tow of the Green Wing that was carrying cumene, a flammable, petroleum-based liquid chemical that is nonreactive to water. The Green Wing had a tow of four tank barges, three of which contained cumene, Denmark said. None of the tank barges leaked.

Denmark said it was expected to take several days before the rock barge could be refloated.