from a barge that collided with a 600-foot tanker.

Coast Guard Lt. Commander Cheri Ben-Iesau said no one was hurt but more than 419,000 gallons of heavy, almost tar-like fuel oil spilled from the barge, forming a slick 12 miles long.

Michael Wilson, president of ship management company Laurin Maritime (America) Inc. in Houston, said the double-hulled tanker

Tintomara was loaded with about 4.2 million gallons of biodiesel and nearly 1.3 million gallons of styrene.

Ben-Iesau said the collision occurred about 1:30 a.m. just upriver from the Crescent City Connection, a pair of bridges between New Orleans' east and west banks