Barges Hit Riverboat Casino; 30 Injured

Panicked casino gamblers ran for the doors when three adrift barges rammed their St. Louis riverboat, sending people to the floor, cutting off electricity and pushing the motorless boat into the current. The crash happened when a towboat hauling barges on the Mississippi River crashed into a bridge near Gateway Arch, freeing three barges. All three barges struck the President on the Admiral riverboat, a permanently docked casino with about 2,500 people on board. The boat’s upstream mooring gave way, but the towboat corralled the riverboat before its other mooring could break. No one was reported seriously injured. About 30 people were treated for minor injuries.