The U.S. Coast Guard called off a search Friday for two men who fell into the Mississippi River when a barge they were on overturned and sank near Hickman Landing on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Kinder Morgan, an energy company near Barfield where the two men were unloading steel coils from the barge, said the company will continue its own search.
“This has become a recovery,” Richard Wheatley said. “It’s no longer considered a rescue mission.”
Crews will begin today salvaging the sunken barge and several spools of steel coil that sank in the 50-foot deep river, he said.
The missing men, identified by Wheatley as Juan Nieves and Nicolas Perez, were unloading the barge at Kinder Morgan’s coil dock on the river. The two had worked for the company through a Blytheville staffing agency, and the barge was not owned by Kinder Morgan, Wheatley said.
A third man fell into the river when the barge tipped about 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, but he was able to swim to safety.
Members of the Coast Guard, the Mississippi County sheriff’s office dive team, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission searched for the two men. On Wednesday, the search was limited to an area near the dock, but on Thursday it was expanded to 55 miles downstream, Wheatley said.
The Mississippi River reached flood stage of 32 feet Thursday, and rapid waters hindered searchers. Wheatley said divers often had to watch for trees and other debris that came down the river.
Kinder Morgan reopened two of its docks at Hickman Landing - one for loading scrap steel and another for cleaning barges - but the third dock, used for unloading the 50,000-pound coils of steel, remained closed Friday.
Wheatley said the Coast Guard and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will conduct an investigation into the accident.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 04/12/2014