Coast Guard probes river collision

• By JARED JANES
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 15, 2008 - Page: 2B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Coast Guard officials haven’t determined what factors contributed to the collision on the fast-moving Mississippi River that sent 18 Louisiana State Penitentiary employees to hospitals late Sunday.

River levels swollen by rain, and resulting changes in the speed and location of currents, have made the river more difficult to navigate even for experienced captains, said Coast Guard Lt. Charles Cobb, chief of the Prevention Department for the Baton Rouge Marine Safety Unit, on Monday.

A number of factors — river conditions, the setting sun, navigation rules — are under investigation as the Coast Guard tries to piece together what caused the crew boat carrying 20 passengers, including two crew members, from shore to shore to collide with two barges moving downriver.

What is clear at this point is that it could have been much worse.

Cobb said the interior of the crew boat was severely damaged, with holes in paneling and tables overturned by bodies thrown about.

All but one employee — who is listed in stable condition — of the 18 injured have been released from area hospitals.

“We missed pulling 20 bodies out of the water by a half second or so,” said Cobb, who added that the crew boat was apparently struck on its front side and pushed aside.

“There was a lot of force in the impact.”

The collision happened near Tunica about 6 p.m., when the towing vessel Charles Clark, pushing two loaded lubricating oil barges, collided with the crew boat Helen G. Calyx, Cobb said.

The crew boat was carrying from the east bank 18 Angola security guards finished with their shifts and commuting to their homes on the west bank, Angola Assistant Warden Angie Norwood said. Fourteen of the 18 required treatment at off-site hospitals — everyone received some kind of treatment by prison doctors.

Angola provides a ferry service across the river for the 30 percent of its employees who live on the west bank.

When water levels are high or low, the penitentiary contracts with a crew boat company to ferry employees to and from work.

A new boat will be in place today so employees will not have to travel through Baton Rouge to make it to work, Norwood said.