VIDALIA — A boat delivering supplies on the Mississippi River Wednesday night began to sink suddenly and left two locals stranded in the water before being rescued by a tugboat.

Vidalia Assistant Police Chief Bruce Wiley said officers responded to a call of an overturned boat in the river at approximately 10:30 p.m., but weren’t able to spot anything in the river for nearly 30 minutes.

After searching the river with spotlights, police traveled to Two J Ranch to meet a tugboat captain who had found two people stranded in the river, Wiley said.

Police later learned that the two people in the water were Miss-Lou residents and employees of Upriver Boat Supply and were in the process of handing of goods to a tugboat when the boat suddenly started sinking.

“We’re not sure exactly why that happened, but the two delivery guys fell into the water, and the third guy was still on the tugboat,” Wiley said. “There was another tugboat already in the water that came by and picked up the two delivery guys and took them over to us.”

Wiley said the Upriver employees, whose names weren’t available as of press time Wednesday, suffered minor injures. One was transported to Natchez Regional Medical Center to receive stitches, while an ambulance treated the other on site.

Wiley said the U.S. Coast Guard and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries would take over the case and continue the investigation as to what caused the delivery boat to sink.

Wiley said the situation was one that could have been worse for those involved.

“We’re just glad everyone was able to walk away safe from this, because it could have been bad,” Wiley said. “They’ll continue searching for the delivery boat and go from there.”