Sunday, August 3, 2008

Tugboat in Spill Was Warned About Tanker

NEW ORLEANS -- The pilot of a huge tanker involved in a collision on the Mississippi River repeatedly warned a tugboat pushing a barge to get out of the way, but no one on the smaller boat responded, according to radio transmissions released Saturday by the Coast Guard.

The July 23 incident caused thousands of gallons of fuel to spill and shut down part of the nation's busiest inland waterway for several days. The newly released audio recordings and radar from that day show the tugboat, Mel Oliver, crossing the river in front of the tanker, Tintamara.

"Mel Oliver, come in, Cap, you're crossing the bottom of a ship coming at you," a Coast Guard traffic controller says.

As the pilot of the tanker becomes increasingly distressed, he calls out to the captain of the Mel Oliver again and again.

"This ain't good, man," the pilot says. Then, as the two dots on a radar intersect, he says, "We just took his tow. The barge is right in front of us, and we're running it over."

The tanker's pilot was not identified.

Also Saturday, the Coast Guard released the results of its preliminary investigation. It found that the person operating the Mel Oliver had an apprentice mate's license, but no one on the vessel was properly documented to guide it. The Coast Guard said the captain of the tug was not aboard at the time of the collision.

The tug's captain and steersman apprentice and the pilot of the tanker have been summoned to a hearing in New Orleans on Aug. 12, the Coast Guard said.

There were no mechanical or electrical problems with the Tintamara, nor were there questions about the pilot's competency, the Coast Guard said. It would not comment further on the findings of the preliminary investigation.

Voice Recorder in Crash Intact

OWATONNA, Minn. -- The cockpit voice recorder from a business jet crash that killed eight people was recovered in good condition, federal investigators said. The recorder could yield information about why the Hawker 800 jet crashed while trying to land in this southern Minnesota city on Thursday. Steven Chealander, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said the agency will not speculate on a cause until the investigation is complete, which could take up to a year. The jet was carrying six casino and construction executives and two pilots when it crashed, killing all aboard.

Girl Survives Fall Down Chimney

NEW YORK -- A 12-year-old New York City girl is being treated for an injured hip after surviving a 14-story fall down a chimney. Authorities said that she had been showing a visiting cousin the view from the roof of her West Village apartment building. She had climbed up a 25-foot ladder alongside a brick chimney to get to the highest point, when she toppled into and down the narrow flue to the building's basement. Fire officials say a two-foot pile of ash and dust cushioned her fall as she crashed into the furnace. Fire Lieutenant Simon Ressner said he was expecting the worst when he opened the metal door at the bottom of the chimney. Instead, the girl poked her hand out of the soot. She is listed in fair condition at a hospital.

Yosemite Fire Nearly Contained

MARIPOSA, Calif. -- Firefighters said they were getting closer to containing a 53-square-mile wildfire that had destroyed more than 20 homes in the mountains outside Yosemite National Park. The blaze was about 80 percent contained Saturday morning, and all evacuation orders had been lifted. Firefighters were focused on building fire lines on the blaze's north flank and said they did not expect it to grow much more. The fire has destroyed 21 homes, forced the evacuation of 350 other houses and spread a smoky haze over the national park since it was sparked by a target shooter last week.

-- From News Services