TOW STRIKES CAIRO BRIDGE, BARGE SINKS

CAIRO, Ill. -- The U.S. Coast Guard reopened a section of the Ohio River north of Cairo to one-way traffic late Friday morning following a barge crash into a pier of the Illinois-Kentucky highway bridge.

The motor vessel Megan Beesecker, owned by Northstar Navigation Inc., of Paducah, Ky., struck the pier about 5:10 a.m. Friday.

One of its 12 barges sank. The barges were loaded with non-hazardous dry bulk cargo.

The Coast Guard deployed a mobile command post, a 21-foot boat and investigators to the scene.

"We opened the river from the bridge's center span to the Kentucky shore," said Jeff Hamilton of the Coast Guard office at Paducah. "We're allowing one-way traffic there until the sunken barge is located."

The Coast Guard monitored traffic for a while, then allowed towboat operators to proceed on their own.

Before opening the channel to traffic, the Coast Guard ran sound depth tests to 52 feet, which is deep enough for large tows to go through.

"We still don't know where the sunken barge is," Hamilton said.

The river from the center span to Illinois was closed, and a Coast Guard cutter was en route to the site to help search for the sunken barge, which was loaded with gypsum.

State authorities closed the bridge to traffic until inspectors examined the structure for damage, said Lt.j.g. Tom Boyles of the Marine Safety Office at Paducah. "The bridge was reopened at 7:35 a.m.," said Boyles.