By Julie Bierach, KWMU
St. Louis – Emergency responders continue to assess exactly how much diesel fuel is leaking from a towboat that sank in the Missouri River outside St. Charles this morning.
At about 2:00 AM today, the towing vessel OMAHA reported to the Coast Guard that it was taking on water. The captain intentionally grounded the vessel along the bank of the river and the seven crew members on board are safe.
John Moren, safety officer with Excell Marine Corp., the company that owns the towboat, says they are trying to minimize any spillage of diesel fuel or lube oils from the boat.
"We have got boom material, which is really just containment devices in the river to capture the fuel that might be leaking from the boat and it's minimal at this point," said Moren.
Excell Marine Corp says there are 22,000 gallons of fuel on board the vessel. But Lieutenant Commander Tim Whalen with the Coast Guard says they still don't know how much of that fuel has spilled into the Missouri River.
"There is approximately an 11 mile sheen from the vessel down to the confluence at the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers," said Whalen. "Fuel is still leaking from the vessel at this time, but we are taking measures to plan for the removal of the vessel."
The exact cause of the accident remains under investigation.