River Traffic Closed As Barge Continues To Struggle

LOUISVILLE -- The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies now are trying to devise a plan to recover a runaway barge.

The barge and two others broke loose along the Ohio River Thursday afternoon, WLKY NewsChannel 32's Natasha Collins reported.

Two of the barges were contained, but one is now on its side, and that is causing big concerns. Coast Guard officials said recovering the runaway barge will take some time.

The struggling barge got tangled near the McAlpine Locks, went over the spillway, struck the K&I Railroad Bridge and then turned on its side, Collins reported. Officials twice shut down the Sherman Minton Bridge, fearing it might cause the barge to break. But the Coast Guard said the barge seemed to stabilize overnight.

Officials from the Coast Guard, local Emergency Management Agency personnel and other groups met Friday morning to try to determine a solution to the problem, but they said they think the responsibility ultimately falls on Magnolia Marine Transportation, the company whose tow boat lost the barge in the first place.

The company dispatched Cincinnati-based Clean Harbor Environmental Services to help clean some of the 20,000 barrels of hot asphalt and 15,000 gallons of diesel that the barge leaked into the Ohio River, Collins reported.

As a solution is pondered, river traffic is closed on the Ohio.

Please follow WLKY NewsChannel 32 and WLKY.com for updates to this story as they become available.