Three cruise ships were among scores of boats trapped by an “extremely serious” oil spill that closed the shipping channel connecting Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico for a second day Sunday, the Coast Guard said.

On Saturday, a barge carrying almost 1 million gallons of heavy oil collided with a ship in the Houston Ship Channel at Texas City. A barge tank containing 168,000 gallons of oil was breached.

On Sunday, the barge was cleared of its remaining contents after about a fifth of its cargo leaked. Oil from the ruptured barge had been detected 12 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico as of Sunday afternoon.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Sam Danus said Sunday that crews were skimming up the thick, gooey oil, but that it was not clear when the channel could reopen. More than six miles of containment booms were being used to protect sensitive wetlands and wildlife habitats.

Two cruise ships and 25 other vessels were waiting to enter the channel from the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. One cruise ship and 34 other boats were waiting to leave Galveston Bay.

Coast Guard officials did allow two cruise ships to travel through the incident area by late Sunday afternoon […]