(CLARKSVILLE) – An official says salvage crews have begun unloading coal from nine barges stuck on the Ohio River’s McAlpine Dam.
Shawn Kenney is assistant locks and dams operations manager for the Army Corps of Engineers in Louisville, Kentucky. He says the unloading began Wednesday morning and it likely will take weeks for crews to salvage the barges.
Kenney tells the News and Tribune that once the coal is unloaded, crews will remove the two barges still afloat and lift seven sunken barges.
A tow line pushing 15 loaded coal barges hit the Clark Memorial Bridge on Dec. 25, causing all barges to break free. Six of the freed barges were recovered, but nine remain on the dam. Each barge holds 1,500 to 1,800 tons of coal.
Information from: News and Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind., http://www.newsandtribune.com
