At press time, U.S. Coast Guard from Marine Safety Office (MSO) St. Louis investigators were trying to determine the cause of the sinking of the towing vessel Patty Ann, while the Missouri Highway Patrol searched the Mississippi River for Patty Ann's operator, John Distefano. The boat sank at about 11:50 p.m. on Feb. 27 at mile marker 127.2, at the Tower Rock Stone Fleet, on the Upper Mississippi River, approximately three miles north of Ste. Genevieve, Mo. Preliminary reports indicated that two deckhands, Nathan Bauman of Ste. Genevieve, and Eric Mathews of Praire du Rocher, Ill., were able to climb aboard a barge adjacent to the Patty Ann as the towboat began to sink.