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5 killed in Louisiana boating accident

A Louisiana coroner says five people are dead after a pleasure boat hit a barge on a canal.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Five men in town for a fishing tournament died when their 24-foot aluminum boat ran under one end of a barge, Louisiana officials say.

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Captain Samuel Martin said the boat hit the barge late Wednesday but wasn't discovered until Thursday morning.

Martin says all bodies have been recovered, and investigators are working to notify the men's families. He did not know whether they were local.

It happened about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans on the Falgout Canal between Theriot and Dulac. The barge was being used to stablilize the bank.

Ernie Bennett, who is on the board of the Houma Oilman's Invitational Fishing Tournament, said the men were entered in the tournament that begins Friday