A fatal towboat accident 10 days ago and several recent breakaway barge incidents prompted the Coast Guard commander in Pittsburgh to announce yesterday that he will shut down operations of marine companies involved in future accidents until the companies provide detailed reports.

Companies found in violation of the regulation can be fined up to $32,500 per violation.

The first company subjected to the new directive was E&G Enterprises, the Neville Island company that owns three coal-filled barges that got loose Saturday on the Ohio River at the Emsworth Lock and Dam. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation temporarily closed the Sewickley Bridge after one of the barges struck a bridge support. Two other barges are stuck in the Emsworth and Dashields dams.

Cmdr. Wyman W. Briggs decided to invoke his authority under the Ports and Waterways Safety Act as a result of the fatal Jan. 9 accident of the Elizabeth M, in which three crew members died and another is missing, and incidents like Saturday's.

"It's kind of enough is enough," Briggs said at a news conference at the Coast Guard's Marine Safety office, Downtown.

The directive requires a company involved in an accident involving a towboat or barges to provide the Coast Guard with a report that details the cause of the accident and a plan for corrective action. The Coast Guard will suspend operations of the vessels involved in the accident until it reviews and approves the report, Briggs said.

The Coast Guard consulted with local towboat companies and the Waterways Association of Pittsburgh, a trade organization, before Briggs decided to announce the suspension policy, he said.

The Elizabeth M, owned by Campbell Transportation Co. Inc. of Dunlevy, Washington County, remains lodged on an icebreak in the Montgomery Dam, where it landed after it was forced over the dam by the weight of a fierce current and coal-filled barges. Officials believe the body of Rick Conklin, 40, of Crucible, Greene County, may be in the towboat's pilot house.

The towboat will likely remain in the dam for quite some time, until the river is deemed safe to begin a removal operation. The first priority of the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers is to put divers in the river to examine the partially submerged towboat and try to find Conklin's body, said Richard Lockwood, chief of the operations and readiness division at the Pittsburgh office of the Corps of Engineers.

Such an operation will take at least eight hours because of the complicated mechanics involved in manipulating the gates of the dam to raise and lower the water to permit divers to do their job, Lockwood said.

Conklin, who had a provisional pilot's license, was in the pilot house with licensed pilot Scott Stewart, 36, of Wheeling, W.Va., when the boat went over the dam. Stewart died in the accident, along with deckhands Tom Fisher, 25, of New Cumberland, W.Va., and Ed Crevda, 22, of West Brownsville.

Fisher's family and a survivor, Jacob Wilds, 26, have retained a Michigan maritime attorney to represent them in dealings with the company and Coast Guard. The attorney, Dennis O'Bryan, said during a news conference last week that the crew of the Elizabeth M was warned about dangerous waters on the Ohio near the Montgomery Lock and Dam before the towboat traveled upriver.

The towboat was pushed backward when the pilot -- authorities are unsure who was at the controls -- attempted to push coal-filled barges up the Ohio River after two of them broke away after passing through the lock.

Coast Guard investigators continue to interview witnesses in preparation for a public hearing within the next month, Briggs said. The Coast Guard has brought in additional investigators from other cities, he said.

Briggs and Lockwood also announced yesterday that the Ohio River near the Montgomery Dam has been opened to all navigation after commercial river traffic was restricted after the accident. Three Campbell Transportation barges that broke away during the accident remain above the dam but are not obstructing traffic, Lockwood said.

Two other barges remain below the dam. A sixth barge is missing and the Coast Guard now believes it is above the dam because a search for the barge for five miles below the dam was unsuccessful, Briggs said.

The rash of breakaway barges is partly the result of high water on the river, Briggs said. The Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers and companies involved with the Waterways Association will establish a task force to make recommendations about safety measures in high water, Briggs said.

"It's time to take a second look at the procedures to see if they're adequate," he said.