Barge Accident Closes Houston Ship Channel

HOUSTON (AP) _ The U.S. Coast Guard says much of the Houston Ship Channel will be closed to marine traffic until at least Tuesday night.

Petty Officer Richard Brahm says the estimate comes from the joint team at the scene of a barge collision with a tower that supports a high-voltage electric transmission line. That tower threatens to topple it into the channel.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the tow boat Safety Quest was pushing three barges loaded with scrap metal about 6 a.m. Sunday when it crashed into the tower on the channel at Baytown. No injuries were reported.

The channel is the lifeline to the Port of Houston, the nation’s leader in foreign waterborne tonnage and imports and runner-up in U.S. export tonnage and total tonnage.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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