BREAKAWAY BARGE STRIKES BRIDGE; FIVE ARE CORRALLED ON ICY RIVER

One of five barges that broke loose from a towboat struck the Mississippi River bridge here Monday. The bridge wasn't damaged, officials said.

The other four barges floated under the bridge before all of them were corralled, said Leo Steger, general manager of Missouri Barge Line.

The Midwest Explorer, owned by Midwest Marine Management in St. Louis, hit a sandbar with its load of grain at about 1:15 p.m. while traveling south, Steger said. It caused a cable holding five of its 20 barges to break loose, he said.

"It's not rare," Steger said. "There have been a couple of these incidents in the last couple of days between here and St. Louis."

Ice in the river has covered some buoys, making them difficult for towboat pilots to see and stay in the channel, he said. The ice also has a tendency to push the boats around. That may have been a factor in the accident, he said.

More than a dozen people watched from the Missouri side of the river as the barges floated ahead of the tow before going under the bridge.

Steger said the bridge pillar wasn't damaged, but a small hole was put in the barge above the water level. The barge didn't sink.

After making their way less than a mile past the bridge, workers for Missouri Barge Lines gathered the barges and held them until the towboat caught up.

David Clary spent six years as a deckhand on the river, so he knew immediately what was happening when he heard a loud noise at Cape Rock.

"We heard a big boom as the towboat hit a sandbar," Clary said. "It broke the cables loose and then the barges took off."

Clary said he and his wife had gone to the river to watch eagles when they saw the accident.

"He probably just got himself in a bad spot," Clary said. "The ice pushes you, so maybe it pushed him into the sandbar."

After the barges broke away from the boat, Clary and his wife followed them downstream toward the bridge. He said they watched as the barges narrowly missed the bridge.

"It came awfully close," he said. "He must have somebody watching over him. He's lucky he didn't sink those barges."

A spokesman for Midwest Marine Management said he was aware of the accident but refused to comment about it.