VIDALIA — Two barges sank after an accident on the Mississippi River Friday morning.

One barge sank after it struck the westbound U.S. 84 bridge across the Mississippi River, and a second barge partially sank near the Vidalia riverfront without striking the bridge.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded to the accident at approximately 4:40 a.m., Coast Guard District Public Affairs Officer Lt. Ana Thorsson said.

The towboat Steven J. Durbin was reportedly towing 30 grain barges when 20 of the barges broke loose.

The reason the barges broke loose is undetermined at this time, Thorsson said.

The barge that struck the bridge sank at the riverbank, and the barge that partially sank was protruding from the water in front for the Bryant O. Hammett Conference and Convention Center Friday.

The navigation channel was closed briefly, but was reopened within a couple of hours, Thorsson said.

“Basically, what they do at that point is they gather the barges back together and the ensure that if any of them sank they are not in the waterway,” she said.

The bridge was not closed following the incident, but Mississippi Department of Transportation Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown said MDOT was not contacted about the barge strike, something Brown said he found disturbing.

“Normally, we are notified by the Coast Guard or the towing company, but we didn’t get any notification,” Brown said. “The protocol is that the Coast Guard should notify us, and we would notify our bridge division and district engineer.”

After speaking with the Coast Guard Friday, Brown said the breakdown in protocol Friday morning occurred when someone notified the highway patrol instead of MDOT.

The Coast Guard is currently working to reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the accident, and will give him a full report, Brown said.

The bridge inspector was already on the bridge Friday in response to another accident, and Sullivan said the inspector would look at where the barge struck at that time.

“If the barge was just carrying grain, it is certainly not a chemical we have to worry about, but we certainly want to make sure the bridge is OK,” Sullivan said.