AYUTTHAYA - A steel barge carrying 1,200 tonnes of sugar hit a supporting pillar of a bridge over the Chao Phraya river in Bang Pa-in district and sprang a leak early Monday morning. No one was injured.
Udomsak Khaonoona, disaster mitigation chief of Ayutthaya, said the TMS-16 was one of four barges loaded with sugar being towed from Ang Thong province to Bangkok.
From Ang Thong, the four barges were initially pulled by a tugboat captained by Manop Taohom. Two other tugs captained by Banjob Wongnanta and Amnat Prasat took them over in tambon Koh Rian of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district.
The rear barge hit a pillar of the Koh Kerd bridge in a fast flowing section of the Chao Phraya river in Bang Pa-in district. The impact caused a 10-centimetre-long rupture in the hull.
The damaged barge was detached from the three other barges and pulled aground, away from the main channel, near the Suwan Kliawthong pier in Bang Sai district.
Divers were sent to plug the hole and the 1,200 tonnes of sugar were being transferred to another barge.
The Marine Department declared the scene a dangerous area. Officials said sugar did not leak into the river.
