Coast Guard: Spark from cleaning caused explosion

MOBILE, Ala. — A crew that was cleaning fuel barges in Mobile Bay likely caused a spark the triggered an explosion and critically burned three workers.

The explosion happened Wednesday night and it was extinguished Thursday morning, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega said.

The explosion forced the evacuation of workers from the Carnival Triumph cruise ship across the river. The ship has been docked there for repairs since it broke down in the Gulf of Mexico in February and had to be towed back to port.

Coast Guard Lt. Mike Clausen says the investigation is continuing, but the spark from cleaning the barges likely caused it.

Firefighters from Mobile and Coast Guard officials responded after 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday to a pair of explosions involving the gas barges in the Mobile River east of downtown. Additional explosions followed over the next few hours.

Authorities say three people were brought to the University of South Alabama Medical Center for burn-related injuries. The three remained in critical condition Thursday morning, hospital spokesman Bob Lowry said.

Across the river, the Carnival Triumph, the cruise ship that became disabled in the Gulf of Mexico last February before it was towed to Mobile’s port, was evacuated, said Alan Waugh, who lives at the Fort Conde Inn in downtown Mobile, across the river from the scene of the explosions. Waugh saw the blasts and said throngs of Carnival employees and others were clustered on streets leading toward the river as authorities evacuated the shipyard.

“It literally sounded like bombs going off around. The sky just lit up in orange and red,” he said, “We could smell something in the air, we didn’t know if it was gas or smoke.” Waugh said he could feel the heat from the explosion and when he came back inside, his partner noticed he had what appeared to be black soot on his face.

Carnival didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment late Wednesday.

Video from WALA-TV (http://bit.ly/15NEYJl) showed flames engulfing a large section of the barge, and a video that a bystander sent to AL.com (http://bit.ly/13vWz4G) showed the fiery explosions and billowing smoke over the river.

The initial blast took place in a ship channel near the George C. Wallace Tunnel — which carries traffic from Interstate 10 under the Mobile River, Vega said. The river runs south past Mobile and into Mobile Bay, which in turn flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

The tunnels were still open and operating, Mobile fire officials said in a statement.

As daybreak approached, the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department’s fireboat Phoenix was moving toward the barges, checking to make sure their mooring lines were secured, the fire department said in a statement.

Mobile Fire Chief Steve Dean told AL.com he was confident the fire wouldn’t spread to nearby industrial properties, including the shipyard where the Carnival cruise ship is docked.

Huffman said the ship is directly across the river from the incident — about two football fields in length.

The barges are owned by Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine, company spokesman Greg Beuerman said. He said the barges were empty and being cleaned at the Oil Recovery Co. facility when the incident began.

The barges had been carrying a liquid called natural gasoline — which he said is neither liquefied natural gas or natural gas. Mobile fire officials described the product as raw gasoline, meaning there were no additives in the fuel.

By mid-morning Thursday, a hazardous materials team sent to inspect the barges determined that no further hazards exist, the Mobile Fire-Rescue reported.

The explosion comes two months after the 900-foot-long Carnival Triumph was towed to Mobile after becoming disabled on the Gulf during a cruise by an engine room fire, leaving thousands of passengers to endure cold food, unsanitary conditions and power outages for several days. The ship is still undergoing repairs there, with many workers living on board.

Earlier this month, the cruise ship was dislodged from its mooring by a windstorm that also caused, in a separate incident, two shipyard workers to fall into Mobile Bay. While one worker was rescued, the other’s body was pulled from the water more than a week later.

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For The Associated Press, Phillip Lucas and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed to this report.