Towboat sinks, leaking fuel into Missouri River

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A crew of seven people was safe after a towboat sank on the Missouri River on Friday, but the vessel leaked diesel into the river outside of the community of St. Charles.

Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Whalen said the Coast Guard in St. Louis received a distress call after 2 a.m. from the towing vessel Omaha, saying it was taking on water. The crew was safely evacuated and no injuries reported.

The Missouri River was closed to traffic in the area as emergency responders worked to contain the fuel spill.

"We've gotten conflicting reports about how much diesel fuel has been lost," said Larry Archer, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

He said the towboat, owned by Excell Marine Corp. of Cincinnati, had been holding 22,000 gallons of diesel when it began sinking. Emergency responders believe about 2,000 to 2,500 gallons of fuel leaked from the vessel. Emergency responders at first thought the vessel had hit a wing dike in the river, designed as a flood-control measure.

However, Archer said later that was not the case. He said it's not clear why the vessel first began taking on water, but said the captain intentionally ran the boat aground because it was sinking.

He said the fuel loss wasn't from a rupture in the vessel, but from vents built into the fuel tanks. He said plans were in the works to try to close off those vents to keep additional fuel from spilling out.

Archer said the DNR considers the spill "fairly significant." He said absorbent materials had been placed in the river to contain the spill. The department requested a fly-over by the Missouri State Highway Patrol to determine how far downstream the fuel had traveled.