The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency today released a preliminary report on a June 19 marine accident between a 647-foot-long barge set and a small fishing boat.
The seven-page report reveals several similarities between a June 2009 accident involving the same tugboat - Serodino, Inc.'s Bearcat - including the fact that at least two crew members were on the tugboat during both accidents.
The report concludes that the barge collided with the drifting fishing boat, resulting in two fatalities. Tim Spidle, 45, of Elizabethton, Tenn., and Soddy-Daisy native Richard Wilkey, 52, died in the accident.
For more details, see tomorrow's Times Free press.