BROOKLYN: BARGE FLIPS, TIPPING RAILROAD CARS INTO EAST RIVER
A barge flipped over and sank as it was being loaded with freight railroad cars at a pier in Brooklyn yesterday, causing several cars to fall into the East
River, the Coast Guard said. The barge, docked at the Brooklyn marine
terminal near Cobble Hill, began taking on water about 9:30 a.m. as
workers moved 10 freight cars loaded with cocoa beans onto its deck. No
one was injured, but by 3:40 p.m., the barge and five of the railroad cars
were completely submerged in the river, said Petty Officer Third Class
Daniel Bender of the Coast Guard. Investigators determined that the barge
and its cargo were not an environmental threat, Petty Officer Bender said.
Cross Harbor Railroad, which operates the barge, did not return telephone
calls seeking comment. ANAHAD O’CONNOR (NYT)
We are a very resourceful people. Someone will find a way to not only salvage the cocoa beans (easy), but use them in animal feed or building material or something. Just watch!
That was a classic! Now, the NYCH will have to pay fines anyway,despite the allegation of no environmental damage! OSHA is looking into this, with the NTSB and the Coast Guard. Stay tuned.
Enviromental damage? To the East River? You couldn’t hurt that cess pool with anything less than dumping an unshielded, running, nuclear reactor into it. And even that would probably be an improvement!
My heart goes out to the people of the Cross Harbor. They are work in a tough market with tough jobs to do, and an incident like this is not trivial for them. I hope they survive and rebound.
So, someone fill me in. The beans are contained in freight cars and bags; you need a crane to lift all the cars out of the water? ergo a little wash and voila…?
In case you lot have forgotten, some 200+ years ago some tea went in the harbour at Boston -
You owe us some backtaxes on that, PLUS interest !!
Send remittances to the “Briti***reasury, Whitehall, London, Great Britain” !!