Tug boat catches fire off Rhode Island coast
By Mike LaCrosse
A tug boat with ten people on board catches fire off the coast of
The boat called the Viking caught fire around 3:30 Sunday afternoon. It was 18 miles east of
Coast Guard crews from four different stations responded. The
“We don’t normally respond that far out, but the circumstances were that there were 10 people on board and the tug was pushing a barge that was full of gasoline,” said North Kingstown Fire Dept. Deputy Chief Robert Giglietti.
The tug boat’s fire-fighting system was able to contain the fire. None of the ten people on board were hurt.
No pollution was released into the ocean.
The company is sending two more boats to bring the tug ashore.
(C) WLNE-TV 2014
