At least seven explosions have have occurred on the Mobile River in Alabama from fires. The New York Times reported that two fuel barges on the Mobile River have caught on fire due to the explosions on the barges Thursday. The blast injured at least three people and forced a Carnival Cruise Lones ship nearby to be evacuated. The ship was undergoing repairs nearby.
"The first explosion occurred Wednesday about 8:30 p.m., and the blasts continued until about 2 a.m., according to the Mobile Fire and Rescue Department. At least one of the barges was being cleaned at the time while docked near Mobile, Ala., and the injuries occurred to members of the cleaning crew, said Lt. Mike Clausen of the United States Coast Guard," reported The New York Times.
The only people on the Carnival ship at the time were company employees. The ship was their Triumph and was undergoing repairs after it suffered an engine room fire two months prior which caused the fiasco that left the ship in the Gulf of Mexico with thousands of passengers and crew members stranded for days.
There hasn't been a caused determined yet for the accident but the department said ti was planning to send a hazardous materials team to determine whether or not dangerous chemicals were present on the barges before the investigators board the ship.
"We thought it was an earthquake or something," Amber Hobbs, who is a resident of the area said to AL.com, a local news Web site, recalling how the blasts shook her house as she was sitting down to dinner. "I have never felt anything like that."
Authorities say that the three people injured were brought to University of South Alabama Medical Center for burn related injuries, reported Foxnews.com. Hospital nursing administrator Danny Whatley said that the three people were in critical condition on early Thursday.
Alan Waugh, who lives at the Fort Conde Inn in downtown Mobile which was across the street from the blast said to Fox News, "It literally sounded like bombs going off around. The sky just lit up in orange and red," he said, "We could smell something in the air, we didn't know if it was gas or smoke."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
