Fire fighting efforts began early Friday for a container barge that is on fire off the coast of the Bahamas. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
MIAMI - The Coast Guard is monitoring the fire aboard a 730-foot container barge about 40-miles southeast of Freeport, Bahamas Friday.
A commercial fire fighting tug boat arrived on scene at approximately 2:30 a.m. to begin extinguishing the fire and another tug is en route to further assist. There continues to be no threat to the general population or the seven crew members aboard the 127-foot tug Patriarch.
The Coast Guard Cutter Robert Yered is on scene to assist with communications between the vessels involved and to provide search and rescue efforts if necessary.
Watchstanders at the Seventh District Command Center in Miami received a call from the Patriarch at 12:30 p.m. Thursday reporting the container barge they are towing had caught fire.
The Robert Yered is a 154-foot fast response cutter, homeported in Miami Beach, Fla.