High Water Causes Trouble for Tugboat

Occurred on March 14, 2019 / Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USAShow more

Info from Licensor: "This video was taken at 11:10 am on March 14th, 2019, on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, LA.

Myself and two crew members were being ferried to a tugboat we work on, here in Louisiana, (this was our first day back at work after having our week off), when a plume of smoke/steam caught my eye. At first, I didn’t know what I was seeing, but as soon as I was able to process the scene I realized what I was seeing was a tugboat and barge that had become hung up on the anchor chain of a large ship.
The water level is very high in the river right now, and that greatly increases currents — in a river that is already treacherous. Once I realized the tug was certainly going to sink, I reached for my phone and began recording. The initial smoke/steam that caught my eye was from the water that rushed into the engine room and came into contact with the extremely hot main engines and exhaust.

There were 4 crewmen aboard this vessel - 3 can be seen to have escaped on to the barge near the end of the video. All 4 crew members escaped the sinking vessel and are safe."