OK Woman Stuck On Cruise Ship Due To Texas Oil Spill

Rusty Surette, News 9

GALVESTON, Texas -- An Oklahoma woman is finally on her way home after being stuck out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas, all because of a large oil spill.

Cleanup work continues two days after a barge struck by a ship in the Houston Ship Channel leaked thousands of gallons of heavy, tar-like oil.

At this time, the cleanup continues after Coast Guard officials said up to 168,000 gallons were dumped from the barge's ruptured tank just inside Galveston Bay.

The oil was detected 12 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico as of Sunday afternoon. One Coast Guard commander calls this "a significant spill."

Dozens of vessels are stacking up in the Gulf, waiting to pull up to port. One of those was a Carnival Cruise ship, and on board was Kayla Parker, a Glenpool resident and dispatcher at Jenks Police Department.

The ship Parker and many others were on finally made it to land Sunday night and she was able to deboard.

The Coast Guard says the clean-up process for all this could take several days.