(WREG-TV) The search continues after a barge capsized on the Mississippi River Tuesday afternoon.
Two workers who were on the barge when it capsized are still missing.
The workers were unloading 50,000 lb. steel coils off the barge when it capsized, tossing them into the river.
The Coast Guard shut down part of the river as rescue teams scoured the muddy waters for any sign of the two men.
But with every hour that passed, daylight disappeared.
“The rescue crews are up against a very swift river,” Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook said. “It’s approximately 22 feet or so, plus or minus some, and it’s rising a lot. It’s supposed to rise to like 28 feet in the next couple of days. There’s a tremendous amount of debris in the water.”
Sonar teams and divers are working to locate the boat and the men.
The barge was at the Kinder Morgan facility in Hickman, Ark. The energy company does not own or operate the barge, and says it is “hoping for a positive outcome.”
So is everybody working hard to find the workers.
Investigators have not released the workers’ names or why the barge they were on capsized.
A Kinder Morgan representative said there were 44 of the enormous coils on the barge, and only four had been unloaded when it sank.
