barge sinks in Ft. Pierce Inlet

[barney]

Not sure if everyone saw the news, but a barge being towed through the inlet sunk yesterday, claiming one life. Given the pics of the barge, it occurred to me this vessel could be working some of the area treasure wrecks. If so, sorry to hear about the loss....
Mike

 

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[penzfan]

Who wants to hunt FP Inlet this weekend? lol

 

[ropesfish]

From today's TC Palm newspaper:

FORT PIERCE — Officials Thursday didn’t know when the Fort Pierce Inlet will be back to normal after a 100- by 40-foot barge sank Tuesday, an incident that claimed the life of a Miami man and closed the waterway to most boat traffic.
“All agencies are working as quick as we can to get this debris field moved,” said Randy Ryan, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard station in Fort Pierce.
He said salvage operations depend on the weather.
As of Thursday afternoon, only recreational vessels with less than a 6-foot draft are allowed through the Fort Pierce Inlet, with authorization from the captain of the Port Miami or designated representative.
Ryan, St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky and Amanda Phillips, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman, spoke late Thursday morning at a hastily announced news conference at the inlet under gray skies.
They gave additional details of the fatal incident, which happened about 6 or 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as a 54-foot boat towed the barge in the inlet, struggling against the outgoing tide. The decades-old barge took on water and sank.
The blocked inlet could impact the arrival of the Nina and Pinta Columbus replica ships scheduled to arrive in Vero Beach on March 5. The vessels’ captain is rerouting the ships through Lake Okeechobee and up the Indian River Lagoon to avoid the blocked Fort Pierce Inlet, said Charlie Wilson, president of the Vero Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Phillips identified the man who died as Dominick Tortorice, 58, of Miami. Tortorice was on the barge with Reed Adams, 58, of Jupiter, and Charles Griffin, 33, of Middleburg.
Rodney Grambo, 53, of Middleburg, was operating the 54-foot cabin cruiser towing the barge.
Adams said they left Key Biscayne on Monday and were traveling to Georgia.
Phillips said Tortorice’s cause of death is possibly drowning. “That’s what the (medical examiner) is kind of going with right now,” she said.
Phillips said ownership of the 54-foot boat and barge are under investigation.
Asked what the owner or owners’ responsibilities would be, she said: “As soon as we find out who it is, then it’ll be assessed as it goes.”
Ryan said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracted Resolve Marine Group of Fort Lauderdale to coordinate the salvage operations. Resolve Marine Group’s work history lists operations around the world, including involvement in towing the Costa Concordia from Giglio off the coast of Tuscany to Genoa, Italy, last July.
Ryan said the barge, which had a small house or shack on board, as well as pipes and other items, broke up when it sank in about 40 feet of water, creating a debris field. He said some of the hazards are only 15 feet below the surface.
The first phase of the salvage operation is “commencing nearly as we speak,” he said.
That includes an assessment of the debris field or wreckage on the bottom.
“What they will do is conduct side scan sonar evaluations on the channel, which will give them a better assessment of the debris field and where it’s laying,” he said.
That must be done at “slack water,” or between high and low tides, to yield better underwater imagery, he said.
Divers will be sent down to put marker buoys to identify the wreck location.
After determining the equipment necessary to salvage the barge debris, workers will clear the debris, allowing the channel to open. He couldn’t provide an estimate of the cost.
Dzadovsky said the federal government will pick up the costs up front.
“What will happen with insurance and things like that with the actual tow operator ... that will come later,” he said. “We don’t know the answers to that yet.”
Phillips said she was unaware of any other barge sinking in the inlet.
“This is the first of its magnitude,” she said.


Copyright 2015 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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[aquanut]

Looks like the Nina and Pinta will come by my house on the Caloosahatchee River!