A barge being removed from an earlier crash with the Morgan City Railroad Bridge has struck the bridge a second time, officials say.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said the Berwick Bridge was struck first last night at about 11 p.m. Rail and Coast Guard officials inspected the bridge, and put a temporary 10 mph restriction on traffic over the bridge overnight, she said.
“The barge was removed, however unfortunately, the barge came lose again and struck the bridge a second time. We have inspectors in route,” Kent said.
The bridge is closed to rail traffic until it can be inspected again, she said.
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Travis Magee said the incident was reported to the USCG about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The tug was pushing five barges, and four of them broke away, he said. The river is closed to traffic, but as of this morning there wasn’t a queue of vessels, he said.
There are no reports of any injuries, Magee said.
The Morgan City Marine Safety Unit of the USCG’s investigation is underway into what happened, he said.
