NEW ORLEANS -- Coast Guard officials said 60 ships are waiting to traverse the Mississippi River, which has been closed in order to clean up a fuel oil spill. Coast Guard officials said mile 97 to the Gulf of Mexico remained blocked for the clean-up and vessels will be allowed to cross in a prioritized order.

Watch The Story

The Coast Guard said no one was properly licensed aboard the tugboat that drove a barge into a tanker early Wednesday. The barge split in when it struck the Tintomara, a 600-foot chemical hauler. The Tintomara, a Liberian vessel, contained bio-diesel and styrene that a spokesman said did not spill from the double-hulled vessel.

Multiple oil clean-up crews have been called to clean the spill, according to a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman. According to officials, more than 100 barrels of oil had been removed from the river by Thursday morning.

Officials said the clean-up would take weeks and require hundreds of workers using booms and skimmers to remove the chemicals. About 80 Coast Guard agents were also on-hand to manage the scene, according to a spokesman.

The barge's owner, American Commercial Lines, immediately took responsibility for the spill which a spokesman said it's obligated to do according to federal law.

No injuries were reported during the wreck.

The strong river current pushed the barge to a spot near New Orleans’ convention center. Tugboats were dispatched to keep the broken barge stationary in the river. On Thursday morning, officials said fuel still bubbled from the sunken wreck.