© AP Photo/Michael DeMocker, Nola.com | The Times-PicayuneA tugboat and barge are engulfed in flames after hitting a natural gas pipeline in Bayou Perot about two miles south of lower Lafitte, Louisiana, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Four people were injured one person was severely burned and was being treated at West Jefferson Medical Center.
A tug boat pushing an oil barge struck a gas pipeline in a bayou south of New Orleans on Tuesday night, igniting a blaze that burned for hours and left four people injured, one severely.
Ensign Tanner Stiehl told The Associated Press the collision occurred at about 6 p.m. Central on Bayou Perot, in a marshy area near where Lafourche and Jefferson parishes meet, about 30 miles south of New Orleans.
The tugboat and barge were engulfed in flames, and heavy smoke billowed from the scene.
"All crew members were able to exit the tug; the captain reportedly suffered second to third-degree degree burns," the Coast Guard said in a news release early Wednesday.
WWL-TV reported that all four people on the vessel were accounted for, but that one person was severely burned and was treated at West Jefferson Medical Center. The station reported the person, identified as the captain of the tug, was transferred to the burn center at Baton Rouge General Hospital.
Comment: It would be interesting to see how many national smoking bans remain standing after they were all put to a public vote.