Barge Carrying Dredge Equipment Sinks Near Boston Harbor

A barge carrying construction equipment capsized and sank approximately two miles off Nahant, a small town just northeast of Boston, on Sunday night, the U.S. Coast Guard (CG) reports. 

The captain of tug boat Big Jake notified CG at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Sunday that two of five barges they were towing had broken free and were adrift.

Crew members from CG Station Point Allerton and CG Cutter Key Largo responded to the scene along with the tug boats Smith Predator, Justice, and Kendall J. Hebert.

While Big Jake was being escorted to Hull, two more barges broke free bringing the total number of adrift barges to four.

Each of the three escort tugs located and rescued one barge, while the fourth barge capsized and sank.

The barge, heading for a dredging project site, was carrying construction equipment which held a maximum of 500 gallons of diesel fuel and 400 gallons of hydraulic oil.

In its latest update, CG said that the crews will be back on scene today, searching to confirm the location of where the barge went down, so the owners can initiate a salvage plan.