The engine room fire aboard a towing vessel was caused by overpressurization of the fuel day tank and a main engine fuel return system when a fatigued chief engineer inadvertently left the day tank overflow valves to the storage tanks closed, the National Transportation Safety Board said in Marine Investigation Report 22/17 released Wednesday.
On May 18, 2021, the towing vessel Mary Lynn was pushing two barges near mile 176 on the Upper Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri when a fire...