A barge slammed into a bridge in Galveston on Wednesday, spilling oil into the bay and forcing a shutdown of the Texas span, officials said, in the latest accident involving prominent U.S. thoroughfares.
Aerial images showed that a section of a rail line alongside the bridge appeared to have collapsed, with slabs of concrete piled on the barge.
No injuries were immediately reported at the Pelican Island Causeway, following incident that unfolded shortly before 10 a.m. CT, according to a statement by the city of Galveston.
Two operators were on the barge at the time of the impact, said Spencer Jones, a spokesperson for the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management.
Jones added that one of the operators fell into the water but was immediately rescued, and the other remained on the barge after the crash and was eventually rescued, as well. No details were provided on how either operator was rescued but Jones noted that there were no injuries.
The barge was “carrying a base petroleum product,” according to a Coast Guard statement.
“The collision has resulted in an oil spill in the bay,” the city said. “The U.S. Coast Guard is responding and will determine the extent of the spill, as well as initiate the containment and cleanup processes.”
Pelican Island is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston, a fishing pier and naval museum.
The university briefly lost power on campus but it was restored quickly and students have access to dining, the school said.
Barges go under that bridge multiple times a day, Galveston Fire Department spokesperson Marissa Barnett said.
Wednesday’s accident is the latest to plague American bridges and highways.
- A container ship hit the the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 6, killing six people.
- And just two weeks ago, Interstate 95 in Connecticut was closed after a tanker truck, filled with gasoline, burst into flames and forced the closure of the one of the eastern seaboard’s most important thoroughfares.
- In late March, a family out fishing on the Arkansas River captured video of a barge hitting a bridge near Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
- Back in April, more than two dozen barges broke loose from moorings and floated down the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, striking the Sewickley Bridge.
- The Fort Madison Toll Bridge, which turns 97 in July and connected Fort Madison, Iowa with Niota, Illinois, over the Mississippi River, was struck by a barge on Thursday.
Barnett pushed back on any comparisons between the Baltimore bridge collapse and this incident.
“People have asked if this is like the Baltimore bridge, this is not that,” Barnett said.
Rebecca Cohen and John Filippelli contributed.
