NEW ORLEANS -- The Coast Guard says no one was properly licensed aboard a tugboat that hit a tanker early Wednesday, resulting in a major oil spill on the Mississippi River.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

U. S. Coast Guard Patrol boat tugs hold the two pieces of an oil barge involved in a collision in the Mississippi River.

Lieutenant Commander Cheri Ben-Iesau of the Coast Guard in New Orleans says the tugboat operator had an apprentice mate's license and there was no one else on the vessel properly licensed to guide the boat on the river.

Ben-Iesau says the Coast Guard will conduct an in-depth investigation.

The name of the tugboat operator has not been released.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)