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Delay in removal of barge left behind in bay for three weeks

Posted at 9:11 PM, May 31, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-01 12:52:29-04

It will be at least another day before a barge, and sunken tugboat is removed from Corpus Christi Bay.

They’ve been in the water for three weeks now behind homes in the 4100 block of Ocean Drive. They were donated to a local non-profit for a fireworks display that was canceled.

The man responsible for the equipment told the Coast Guard and Texas General Land Office he would arrive around 9:30 Friday morning to remove the barge, but he didn’t show up. His crew then planned to arrive late in the afternoon. However, they hit some rough waters along the way.

“The barge that was coming to do the work over at the house started taking on water while they were in transit,” said Wes McDaniel with the Texas General Land Office.

Fortunately, a staff member at the Marina Del Sol Condominiums along Ocean Drive noticed them.

“He saw them having some trouble out there and got on the radio and called them and brought them in and was able to give them a pump to de-water their vessel,” McDaniel told KRIS 6 News.

He added that the crew hoped to have the barge deemed seaworthy first thing Saturday morning, and then continue to the barge and tugboat to start removing them.

GLO also doesn’t expect to issue any violations because there was no oil spill and the vessels will be moved.

KRIS 6 News also learned that the man who left the barge and tugboat out there owns about half of the sections used to assemble that barge. A Houston-based company called Flexifloat owns the rest of the components. It’s in contact with the Coast Guard about retrieving the sections of the barge that it owns.