Multiple people unaccounted for after tugboat, private vessel collide along Monongahela River

Three people are unaccounted for and two others were flown to a nearby hospital after a tugboat and a private vessel collided Sunday night along the Monongahela River in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The boat collision happened around 9 p.m. on Sunday along the Monongahela River, around one mile south of Min Love Park in Rices Landing. 

Officials said that the initial call came in from a tugboat that was carrying empty barges, followed by a distress call that came in from another private boat.

That boat then capsized and the dark conditions posed challenges when it came to rescuing people.

Three people remain unaccounted for from the private boat. The two other individuals who were flown from the area by medical helicopter are believed to be in critical condition.

The emergency response consists of officials from Greene and Fayette counties, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

"Right now, we have divers that are going to be entering the water to check the wreckage and look for any type of victims or anything that they can recover," said Jim Bittner, who leads the Fayette County Swift Water Rescue Team. "We've been doing air searches as well, since we got here. We've also been doing some side-scan sonar on the river, checking for anything that we can find." 

Bittner said that the collision is a rare situation and is something he has not seen in his 18 years, adding that all available resources are being deployed to try and find the missing people. 

Maryland State Police have also responded to help assist crews in the ongoing search mission.