4 July 2006
Morgantown Dominion Post
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed Monday that the two coal barges that sank Sunday in the Monongahela River near Maidsville will be salvaged by barge owner, CONSOL.
CONSOL officials were not available, and the cause of the mishap remains unknown.
"It is being investigated, and the company has submitted an approved salvage plan to bring the two barges up," said Nyx Cangemi, a U.S. Coast Guard public affairs officer in New Orleans.
Boaters are being advised to steer clear of that section of the Mon River where the barges sank while moored at a dock.
"The Coast Guard has placed two lit buoys to mark the sunken barges, and the company has said they will be contracting a salvage team," Cangemi said. "This actually happens quite often. And if we went in there, we'd put salvage companies out of business."
Each barge is approximately 195 feet long by 35 feet wide, with an average capacity of 1,500 tons. That's the equivalent of 60 semi-truck loads.
Nine coal barges and two gravel barges were moored at the site Sunday.
On Monday, all barges had been removed except the two coal barges that lay submerged.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is not involved in the salvage operation.
Bob Gay/The Dominion
Post Photos
Coal barges that had been tied to this mooring pier (above) in
the Monongahela River near Maidsville were removed early Monday
morning, leaving only the two submerged barges. The barges, owned
by CONSOL, sank over the week-end. An emergency warning beacon
(left) floats in the waters of the Mon River overtop of the site
where two loaded coal barges sank Sunday. The other barges
attached to the sunken barges were towed away early Monday
morning.