While en route from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana the barge CHESEAKEAK TRADER, Towed by the Tug CAPTAIN BILL suffered a structural failure of unknown origin and lost several containers overboard. Approximately 26 containers from the first tier (hatch) and 4 containers from the second hatch were lost overboard and into the Gulf of Mexico, they have not yet been located. The damaged tiers of containers do hold some hazardous materials and some may have been lost over the side. The nature of the hazardous materials are mostly flammable liquids and acids. No oxidizers, poisons, or explosive substances have been identified. Overflights were conducted by a Falcon Jet out of ATC Mobile and by MSO personnel aborad a HH-65 from air station New Orleans. An initial planning meeting was held at 1500 at the New Orleans MSO, in attendance were; USCG, NOAA, Louisiana State Police-Hazmat, NOFD-Hazmat, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, salvage representatives, response contractors, cargo owner and the tug operator's representative. At this initial meeting all known hazards were identified, all parties concerns were addressed and initial objectives were set. Currently the tug and barge are en-route to the mouth of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). The MRGO is a channel which bypasses the Mississippi River and leads to the industrial canal of New Orleans. The tug will be met by a USCG 41' patrol boat. On board are members of the MSO and Gulf Strike Team. They will conduct a visual inspection of the vessel and cargo stability and conduct basic air monitoring. They will not be boarding the tug or barge. Upon completion of this inspection a second planning meeting will be held later this evening (est. 1830). At this time it is believed that the barge will be allowed to transit up the MRGO to the Sea-Land terminal in the industrial canal. Once the barge is alongside more extensive air monitoring and initial space entries and assessments can be made. Once a detailed assessment is made the containers can be safely removed. NOAA has provided chemical characterization, CAMEO runs and interpretation, hazards assessment and weather support to this incident. Attached are two photos of the barge and damaged containers taken by MSO New Orleans on 4/27. They are saved in JPEG format. For those reading this message via FirstClass Client software: Mac users: Option-double-click to view, print, or save the attached JPEG files. Windows users: Control-double click to view or download the attached JPEG files. Contact: SSC Todd Bridgeman At MSO New Orleans, command center 504-589-7471, 7472, 7473 or via pager, or 206-526-6317 and ask to have paged. USCG district 8.

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Note: Documents are posted chronologically and early reports likely contain factual errors. These errors may be corrected in a later report.