The U.S. Coast Guard reopened the Ohio River in Pittsburgh to maritime traffic on Tuesday, nearly four days after 26 barges broke loose and floated away during weekend flooding.
“The river is open. The Ohio River is open,” Lt. Eyobe Mills told The Associated Press.
The Coast Guard had barred vessels from a stretch of river north of the city after dozens of barges got loose from their moorings late Friday, striking a bridge and smashing a pair of marinas. One of the barges sank and was located by sonar Tuesday, allowing the Coast Guard to restore navigation.
“We're just advising vessels to steer clear of the area. They can transit, they just need to be cautious of it," Mills said.
The barge operator, Campbell Transportation Company Inc., began work to salvage the other barges. Five of seven barges pinned against the Emsworth Locks and Dam were removed Tuesday, according to the company. Crews still have to remove two barges from that dam and another barge that was stuck upstream.
“We will continue to implement our recovery plan for the remaining affected vessels, at all times taking into consideration the safety of the recovery workers, the public and the barges,” said Gary Statler, the company’s senior vice president for river operations.
The Coast Guard is investigating how the barges got loose. All but three of the barges were loaded with coal, fertilizer and other dry cargo. Statler said the barges broke loose “under high water conditions on the rivers, resulting in strong currents due to flooding in the area.”
Water levels on the Ohio rose very rapidly last week and then fell just as rapidly, said Matt Brown, chief of the Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services. Barge owners are well aware of the risk of high water and must constantly adjust ropes holding their vessels in place, he said Tuesday.
“Most of the mariners are very proactive,” Brown said. “It’s not very often this happens, but we know that’s when the biggest threat level is. That’s the time they’ve really got to watch, hour by hour, because you’ve got to make adjustments.”
No injuries were reported.
An inspection of the Sewickley Bridge revealed no significant damage, and the bridge was reopened to traffic on Saturday,
Campbell, of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, owns and manages more than 1,100 barges and moves about 60 million tons of dry and liquid cargo each year, according to its website.
The barge mishap took place more than two weeks after Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after it was hit by a wayward cargo ship, killing six construction workers who plunged to their deaths.
A group of barges sit pinned against the Emsworth lock and dam in Pittsburgh, on Saturday, April 13, 2024. More than two dozen river barges broke loose from their moorings and floated down the Ohio River, damaging a marina and striking a bridge. (WTAE via AP)
A group of barges sit pinned against the Emsworth lock and dam in Pittsburgh, on Saturday, April 13, 2024. More than two dozen river barges broke loose from their moorings and floated down the Ohio River, damaging a marina and striking a bridge. (WTAE via AP)
PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors say they will not retry an Arizona rancher whose trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury.
The jurors in the case against George Alan Kelly were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a verdict after more than two days of deliberation. The judge declared a mistrial on April 22.
The 75-year-old Kelly had been on trial for nearly a month. The rancher was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, killing of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea outside Nogales, Arizona, near the border with Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea had lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He was in a group of men that Kelly encountered that day on his cattle ranch.
The trial coincided with a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors are headed back to court Monday afternoon to announce whether they will retry an Arizona rancher after a jury deadlocked last week over whether or not to convict him in the shooting of a Mexican man on his property.
The jurors in the case against George Alan Kelly were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a verdict after more than two days of deliberation. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial on April 22.
After the mistrial, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has the option to retry Kelly — or to drop the case.
The 75-year-old Kelly had been on trial for nearly a month in Nogales, which is on the border with Mexico. The rancher had been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, killing of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea outside Nogales, Arizona.
Cuen-Buitimea had lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He was in a group of men that Kelly encountered that day on his cattle ranch. His two adult daughters, along with Mexican consular officials, met with prosecutors last week to learn about the implications of a mistrial.
Prosecutors had said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away on his cattle ranch. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.
The trial coincided with a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security. During the trial, court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Earlier, Kelly had rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also accused of aggravated assault of another person in the group of about eight people.
FILE - George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2023. Prosecutors headed back to court Monday, April 29, 2024, to announce whether they will retry Kelly, an Arizona rancher, after a jury deadlocked in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property near the southern U.S. border. Jurors in the case against Kelly did not reach a unanimous decision on a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial on April 22. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)
