By Matt Pearce April 24, 2013, 8:58 p.m.
Three people were hurt in multiple explosions aboard two fuel barges in the Mobile River in Alabama on Wednesday night, according to the Mobile Fire Department.
The department said the three victims were taken to a hospital. The extent of their injuries or the possibility of other casualties could not be immediately determined.
The fire department said the natural gas barges experienced four blasts, with the first reported about 9 p.m. The incident occurred in the vicinity of the Carnival Triumph, the cruise ship that lost power in the Gulf of Mexico and later broke loose of its moorings at a Mobile shipyard.
Some areas along the river were evacuated. The fire department said a shipmaker on the east bank, Austal, had been partially evacuated as a fire burned nearby.
"Planning to let it burn," the fire department tweeted. "Still too unstable."
The fuel content or identities of the barges could not be immediately confirmed. A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard said the agency would soon have a comment.
Here are a collection of tweets from the fire department, local media and onlookers. Not all details in the tweets could be confirmed.
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Three people were hurt in multiple explosions aboard two fuel barges in the Mobile River in Alabama on Wednesday night, according to the Mobile Fire Department.
The department said the three victims were taken to a hospital. The extent of their injuries or the possibility of other casualties could not be immediately determined.
The fire department said the natural gas barges experienced four blasts, with the first reported about 9 p.m. The incident occurred in the vicinity of the Carnival Triumph, the cruise ship that lost power in the Gulf of Mexico and later broke loose of its moorings at a Mobile shipyard.
Some areas along the river were evacuated. The fire department said a shipmaker on the east bank, Austal, had been partially evacuated as a fire burned nearby.
"Planning to let it burn," the fire department tweeted. "Still too unstable."
The fuel content or identities of the barges could not be immediately confirmed. A spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard said the agency would soon have a comment.
Here are a collection of tweets from the fire department, local media and onlookers. Not all details in the tweets could be confirmed.
ALSO:
House votes to honor victims of 1963 Birmingham bombing
Las Vegas cabbies overcharged tourists $15 million, audit says
Nevada senator's surprise during gay marriage debate: 'I'm gay'