July 23: A broken barge is shown that split in half after a tugboat pushing it and a 600-foot tanker crashed. NEW ORLEANS — It might be several days before a stretch of the Mississippi River at New Orleans can reopen after a 600-foot tanker and a barge loaded with fuel oil collided Wednesday, breaking the barge in half, officials said. No one was injured, but heavy, almost tar-like fuel oil spilled from the barge, forming a slick 12 miles long, said Lt. Cdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau, a Coast Guard spokeswoman. About 29 miles of the river was closed. The barge "was T-boned and split in half," she said. It held more than 419,000 gallons of fuel oil in three tanks. Investigators don't know whether all three tanks broke but "are assuming the worst-case discharge of all 9,980 barrels," said Capt. Lincoln Stroh, Coast Guard captain of the...
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