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River traffic was halted for six hours yesterday when a disabled barge involved in last week's oil spill leaked a further 2,500 gallons of fuel oil into the Mississippi River.

Shipping traffic had just returned to normal in the port of New Orleans and across a 100-mile section of the Mississippi river that had been been closed after an oil spill on July 23rd. Last week's incident occurred when a barge carrying 419,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil collided with the Tintomara, a 600-foot Liberian-flagged tanker, spilling at least 280,000 gallons of oil into the river.

Captain Lincoln Stroh, Coast Guard captain of the Port of New Orleans said yesterday's spill was likely to have been caused by an approximate two-foot drop in the river level over the last seven days, causing the barge to shift and disrupt the fuel oil still inside.

Stroh said further leaks of this size could take place again until the barge is removed from the river.

Despite yesterday's shift, Stroh said the vessel is secure against the bridge piling and will not move downriver.

On Wednesday night, crews welded two massive industrial bolts to the sides of the barge in preparation for cranes to attach lines. Divers will then drill holes into the bow and stern tanks and pump out as much oil as possible before a crane hauls the mangled barge out of the river.

Removing the barge is still a few days away, according to the Coast Guard, as divers inspecting the barge have run into setbacks because of strong currents near the river bottom. The current is said to be so swift that divers have found it difficult to remain in position to calculate how much oil still remains in the tank that leaked last week.

The stem tank was found lying along the bottom of the river and is reportedly still full, meaning the amount spilled so far may be approximately 280,000 gallons of oil, or two-thirds of the total quantity being carried before last Wednesday's collision.