Barge freed off Egmont Key

The 441-foot barge, left, that has been stuck on a sandbar west of Egmont Key, lightens its load of fuel oil Friday. The process known as "lightering." The vessel is also being checked for leaks and environmental damage.  [Lara Cerri | Times]

Update 6:30 p.m. EGMONT KEY -- A barge stuck on a sand bar near Egmont Key is moving on its own power after about 20,000 barrels of fuel oil were removed.

The barge left the marked channel and ran aground on Wednesday about 3 miles west of Egmont Key. The Coast Guard and commercial tug boats tried three times to move it before bringing in another barge to take on some of its fuel.

The barge and its tug Yankee will be inspected at an off-shore anchorage nine miles west of Egmont Key. It will then go to Weedon Island power plant in St. Petersburg where divers will inspect it more, according to the Coast Guard.

No environmental damage has been reported. The cause of the grounding is under Coast Guard investigation.

The vessel was found more than a mile outside the shipping channel when it ran aground into a sandbar about 3 miles south-southwest of Egmont Key, the Coast Guard said. It's investigating why the barge left the channel, but so far they don't believe the crew steered away deliberately, said Simpson.

Hanson, the spokesman for K-Sea, said the Yankee was properly equipped with "quite the suite" of radar and logging equipment, including a depth finder, at the time of the accident. Hanson said K-Sea company officials "will actively participate" in the forthcoming investigation.

The crew has undergone drug and alcohol tests, which are standard in this kind of accident, Simpson said. The names of the crew members were not disclosed.

--Casey Cora and Stephanie Garry, Times Staff