On July 23, 2008, the T/V Tintomara collided with the tug/barge (M/V Mel Oliver and DM932) near downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. The barge was ripped in half and spilled 283,000 gallons of fuel, closing the Mississippi River to shipping for six days.

Over the next several months, spill response specialists from NOAA OR&R supported the incident operations, providing science coordination, trajectory forecasts, and shoreline and cleanup assessments.

Operations were temporarily halted during the passage on September 1, 2008 of Hurricane Gustav and, subsequently, Hurricane Ike.

More Information:

• IncidentNews (reports, documents, images, etc.): Barge DM932
• Damage assessment, remediation, and restoration: Fuel Barge DM932
• Short video about NOAA OR&R's response to this spill: De-Oiling the Delta