Baltimore bridge collapse spotlights past disasters caused by ships
There have been multiple bridge collapses caused by ships over the years
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The recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland has brought attention to other past instances of bridge incidents stemming from vessel hits.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge, which crossed the Patapsco River near Baltimore, sustained a hit from a large container ship early Tuesday morning, causing it to collapse.
Cargo ship Dali sits in the water after running into and collapsing Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 27, 2024. | Getty Images
The incident left six missing people presumed dead and is expected to impact the economy.
Examples of past bridge incidents
Sunshine Skyway Bridge
The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge experienced a partial collapse that took the lives of nearly three dozen people over 43 years ago. Their ages reportedly ranged from 7 months old to 92 years old.
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That incident occurred after a massive ship ran into part of the bridge that goes over Florida’s Tampa Bay during a severe storm, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Debris from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge is perched on the bow of the freighter Summit Venture after the vessel rammed the bridge on May 9, 1980, during a thunderstorm at Tampa Bay, Florida, causing 34 deaths. (Keystone / Getty Images)
The ship involved in the collision was the Summit Venture. Conditions the Summit Venture had been trying to sail in at the time it hit the bridge included fog, rain and high-speed winds, the outlet reported.
About 1,200 feet of the bridge went into the water, the outlet reported.
Authorities replaced the damaged Sunshine Skyway Bridge about seven years after the incident.
Interstate 40 Bridge
Another incident is the 2002 collapse of the Interstate 40 bridge near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma.
In a report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) linked the collapse to a towboat that "veered off course and rammed" into the bridge. The roughly 100-foot towboat had been maneuvering a pair of barges.
The collapse, which caused 14 deaths, affected about 500 feet of the bridge. Nearly 60 local, state and federal agencies were involved in responding to the incident.
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The Interstate 40 Bridge sustained about $30.1 million worth of damage, "including the operation of detours," according to the NTSB. Meanwhile, damages to the barges amounted to $276,000.
Big Bayou Canot
The Big Bayou Canot bridge incident caused the deaths of 47 people. It took place in 1993.
All of those individuals had been traveling on an Amtrak train that partially fell into the water from the bridge near Mobile, Alabama, according to The Associated Press.
The railroad bridge became misaligned due to a hit from barges being transported by a towboat called Mauvilla. Fog and other factors contributed to the collision, according to an NTSB report published online by Wikimedia.
Multiple train cars, including two for passengers and ones for baggage and sleeping, derailed in the incident, the report said. It has been called one of Amtrak’s worst-ever rail accidents in terms of fatalities, according to the AP.
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The incident led to damage and rerouting costs of over $19.08 million, according to the NTSB.
Non-vessel related collapses have also occurred
In 2008, an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found that a 40-year-old design flaw was a primary cause of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, 2007. (Sherri LaRose-Chiglo/MediaNews Group/St. Paul Pioneer Press via / Getty Images)
There have been other major bridge collapses. For example, the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis experienced one in 2007 that stemmed from "inadequate load capacity" and weight loads on the bridge.