© AP Photo/John David Mercer
Heavy fuel oil floats down a roadway drainage ditch past boom absorption material on Cochrane Causeway on Blakeley Island just south of the Gulf Coast Asphalt Company's facility, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, in Mobile, Ala. Heavy petroleum spilled into the Mobile River early Thursday, forcing the closing of the shipping channel, Alabama authorities said.
Heavy petroleum spilled into the Mobile River early Thursday, forcing the closing of the shipping channel, Alabama authorities said.
A tank ruptured at a private terminal on Blakely Island, Judith Adams of the Alabama State Docks said.
About 275,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil spilled from a barge at the Gulf Coast Asphalt Company's facility on the Mobile River, the
Mobile Press-Register reported.
An unknown amount of oil flowed into the Mobile River, according to Coast Guard officials. The newspaper reported that oil was floating across a broad area of the river's surface by late morning, and containment boom equipment had been set up in the area in an attempt to capture the oil, the newspaper reported.
Four companies were hired to help clean up the spill, which occurred around 4:20 a.m., authorities said.
