Ships Collide, Spill Oil in Tampa Bay
Two fuel-laden barges and a freighter collided Tuesday in Tampa Bay, touching off explosions and a huge fire and spilling heavy oil that threatened a wildlife refuge. No one was badly hurt.
“I heard an explosion, followed by another explosion . . . there was one towering inferno that reached up to the heavens,” said Bob Lartz, assistant supervisor at Ft. DeSoto park at the entrance to Tampa Bay.
A barge loaded with jet fuel burned for more than 16 hours after the explosion; the other had leaked at least 210,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil, Coast Guard Petty Officer Lionel Bryant said. The damaged freighter, with 19 crew members aboard, was run aground to keep it from sinking.
The Coast Guard closed the harbor, the nation’s seventh-largest, stranding three ships at sea and two ready to leave the port. It was not known late Tuesday when the harbor might reopen.
The Coast Guard placed floating booms around the barges to control an oil slick before it fouled the nearby Egmont Key refuge.
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