Sunken vessel clogs main channel on the Mississippi
NEW ORLEANS — Freighters
were stopped cold and cruise-ship passengers were stuck Monday because of
a shipwreck blocking the main channel of the Mississippi River.
A 178-foot ship went down
Saturday in a collision in the fog, obstructing Southwest Pass, the only
channel deep enough for large oceangoing ships to make their way from the
Gulf of Mexico into the lower Mississippi. Five crew members were missing
in the accident.
Gary LaGrange, executive
director of the Port of New Orleans, said that reopening the channel would
probably take until Wednesday and that getting operations back to normal
would require several more days.
More than 40 cargo ships
were waiting to sail downriver into the gulf, and about the same number
were stacked up waiting to enter the river.
Two Carnival Cruise Lines
ships that had been headed for weekend dockings at New Orleans after
Caribbean cruises were diverted to other gulf ports. Their thousands of
passengers were put on buses to New Orleans, and travelers who had been
waiting to board the ships in New Orleans had to be taken by bus to the
other ports.
Carnival's 3,600-passenger
ship Conquest was supposed to leave New Orleans on Sunday night, but
because it was diverted to Gulfport, Miss., its departure had to be
delayed until Monday night, cutting into its Caribbean cruise.
Carnival offered the
passengers a partial refund.
Carnival's Holiday docked in
Mobile, Ala., carrying 1,500 passengers who had to be sent to New Orleans
by bus, a ride of a little more than two hours. Nevertheless, the
Holiday's Monday night sailing time was unaffected.
Royal Caribbean's Grandeur
of the Seas and its 2,600 passengers were stranded in New Orleans, unable
to leave the city and its noisy Mardi Gras celebrations for a cruise to
the Caribbean islands.
Divers were sent into the
partly submerged hull of the sunken Lee III on Monday to search for the
five missing sailors and prepare the ship for removal.
Salvage experts planned to
pump air into the vessel, put a strap under its stern and either pull the
ship out of the way or lift it onto a barge.
The Lee III, which was used
to deliver people and supplies to offshore oil rigs, sank after colliding
with a 534-foot container ship.
— The Associated Press
