HICKMAN -- The search-and-rescue operation which has been ongoing at the Mississippi River near the Kinder Morgan terminal since Tuesday is being changed to a search-and-recovery effort.
Mississippi County Sheriff Dale Cook said Thursday morning that boats were checking between the 806- and 810-mile markers on the river, the only remaining spots which had not been searched. Once the call is made, the Coast Guard will no longer be involved in the search, and work will be turned over to a recovery company.
A recovery group out of Vicksburg will be coming up river and is expected to arrive Sunday to begin attempts to recover the barge, which is still sitting on the bottom of the river where it sunk Tuesday while steel coils were being unloaded.
"We saw the boat sitting on the bottom with sonar while out on our boat yesterday," Cook said today. "It's sitting right side up with around 40 coils still on it, so it still has this very heavy load and it can't be raised until the coils are removed."
Cook said northbound river traffic has been stopped since the incident and all barges have been tied off on the banks, while southbound tugs were allowed through, with boat operators asked to look for the two missing persons in the water.
"We were told today by the Coast Guard that they won't need our boat or the Rescue Squad's boat. It's windy and the river is still rising and won't crest until tomorrow," Cook said. "They told us that in 49-50 degree water, which is the temperature of the river now, a human can only stand it for 10 hours at the very max, and your heart would stop. Now it's been two days, so their hopes are passed. The Coast Guard has the names of two or three witnesses who saw both of them in the water before they submerged again."
The barge overturned Tuesday while unloading steel coils near Nucor Steel Arkansas, located at Hickman. Three people were first thought to have gone missing, but one of them apparently jumped to safety when the barge overturned. Kinder Morgan owns the terminal where the incident occurred, but company officials said they did not own or operate the barge which capsized.
Officials have not released the names of the two missing people. Representatives with the Coast Guard and Kinder Morgan had not returned requests for additional information by press time Thursday.
sharris@blythevillecourier.com