Bridge that collapsed in Baltimore: several precedents in the United States (II)

EADS BRIDGE: 50 INJURED

April 14, 1998: The tugboat Anne Holly, which was traveling in the port of Saint-Louis, struck the central span of the Eads Bridge. Eight barges broke away. Three of them hit a gambling boat permanently moored under the bridge. Fifty people were slightly injured.

BIG BAYOU CANOT: 47 DEATHS

September 22, 1993: Barges pushed by a tugboat in heavy fog struck and displaced the Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge near Mobile, Alabama. Minutes later, an Amtrak train with 220 people on board reached the displaced bridge and derailed, killing 47 people and injuring 103 others

SEEBER BRIDGE: 1 DEAD

May 28, 1993: The tugboat Chris, pushing the empty barge DM3021, struck a pillar of the Judge William Seeber Bridge in New Orleans. Two spans and the two-post bridge collapsed onto the barge. Two cars carrying three people fell with the deck of the four-lane bridge into a canal. One person died and two others were seriously injured.

SUNSHINE SKYWAY BRIDGE: 35 DEAD

May 9, 1980: The 609-foot cargo ship Summit Venture was navigating the narrow, winding channel of Tampa Bay, Florida, when the ship's radar was disrupted. The vessel sheared off a support of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, bringing down a 1,400-foot section of concrete roadway during the morning rush hour. Seven vehicles, including a bus with 26 people on board, fell 150 feet into the water. Thirty-five people died.

Bridge that collapsed in Baltimore: several precedents in the United States (I)

A container ship hit a large bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to plunge into the river below.

From 1960 to 2015, 35 major bridges collapsed worldwide following a collision with a ship or barge, killing a total of 342 people, according to a 2018 report from the World Infrastructure Association waterborne transport infrastructure (World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure). Eighteen of these collapses occurred in the United States.

Here is a list of notable disasters involving ships or barges that struck bridges in the United States:

POPP'S FERRY BRIDGE

March 20, 2009: A ship pushing eight barges struck Popp's Ferry Bridge in Biloxi, Mississippi, causing a 150-foot section of the bridge to collapse into the bay.

INTERSTATE 40 BRIDGE: 14 DEAD

May 26, 2002: A barge struck the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, causing a 500-foot section of the road to collapse and plunging vehicles into the water . Fourteen people died and 11 were injured.

QUEEN ISABELLA CAUSEWAY: 8 DEAD

September 15, 2001: A tugboat and barge struck the Queen Isabella Causeway in Port Isabel, Texas, causing a midsection of the 80-foot bridge to fall into the bay below. Eight people died after motorists drove into the hole.

(to be continued)

Empty river barge hits bridge in China, at least two dead

The accident occurred in Guangzhou, in the south of the country, on Thursday morning. Three people are still missing, according to the local maritime affairs bureau.

At least two people died and three remain missing after a collision on Thursday  in China between a river barge and a road bridge, reports AFP. The shock caused a section in the middle of the bridge to collapse, authorities announced.

The empty barge was traveling between Foshan and Guangzhou, provincial capital of southern China's Guangdong, when it hit the bridge around 5:30 a.m. (Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. GMT), the business bureau said Canton Maritime Services. The ship hit a pillar of the Lixinsha Bridge, causing the deck of the structure to rupture and five vehicles to fall, either into the water or onto the boat below, he said in a press release.

According to the latest report provided by the office, two people were rescued, two died, one crew member was slightly injured and three people are still missing.

Dozens of rescuers

The Guangzhou Maritime Affairs Bureau said the cause of the accident was being investigated and rescue operations were continuing.

According to the Chinese channel CCTV, dozens of rescuers were dispatched to the scene, including some who came as reinforcements from the neighboring metropolis of Shenzhen.

Baltimore's nightmare returns: barge against bridge in Oklahoma

A barge crashed into a bridge in the US state of Oklahoma. This is what local authorities reported, specifying that the accident caused no casualties and that traffic was first blocked then reopened after safety checks.

According to what the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (Okdot) posted on its X account, US Highway 59 was closed on the Arkansas River, south of Sollisaw, due to the collision. The causes of the accident are currently unknown. Just last Tuesday, a merchant ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse, an accident in which six construction workers remain missing.

On May 26, 2002, in the same Arkansas River, also in Oklahoma, 14 people died and eleven were injured when another bridge collapsed, causing ten vehicles to fall into the water after a tugboat pushing two barges struck a pylon of the structure along the river. Highway I 40, the most important highway in the Midwestern state. In this case, it was an illness of the captain of the tugboat which caused the accident.

No injuries were reported on the highway or the barge, according to state patrol officials. The bridge crosses the Arkansas River where it enters the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, which is not far from Oklahoma’s border with Arkansas.

The highway reopened to traffic around 4 p.m.

“Engineers inspected the structure and found it safe to reopen,” the Oklahoma Department of Transportation said in an email.