Vehicles plunge as barge strikes span

Associated Press

WEBBERS FALLS, Okla. – A captain’s seizure may have led to a barge hitting an interstate bridge over the Arkansas River during a storm Sunday, collapsing a 500-foot section of roadway and sending about a dozen vehicles plunging into the water with people trapped inside, Gov. Frank Keating said Sunday.

Capt. John Harris of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said there was still hope for air pockets in the submerged vehicles and he hoped divers would be able to reach the cars Sunday evening.

Crews pulled two cars and a motor home from the water Sunday evening, and three bodies have been found, said Lt. Chris West, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Officials expected to find as many as 12 bodies in the submerged vehicles but said it would likely be today or Tuesday before all the victims could be removed.

Keating, who visited the area Sunday afternoon, said the barge’s captain, Joe Dedmon of Florence, Miss., may have had a seizure and blacked out just before the barge rammed a column supporting the bridge. He said the captain was being examined at an area hospital.

“One of the fire officials asked two tug mates and they said it was a seizure or a blackout and the captain hit the bridge,” Keating said.

Preliminary tests found that Dedmon did not have alcohol or drugs in his system, said Joel Henderson, an attorney for Magnolia Marine Transport Co., which owns the towboat.

It wasn’t clear whether the storm and fast-moving river water contributed to the crash.

Shane Guthrie, personnel manager for the marine company, said the company’s 104-foot-long towboat, the Robert Y. Love, was pushing two barges when the accident occurred. None of the seven crew members was injured, officials said.

Cranes were brought in to stabilize the two bridge sections that slanted from Interstate 40 into the river as divers struggled against a strong current in the murky water Sunday afternoon.

A second nearby bridge also was hit Sunday morning but was still being used, although one of its pillars was damaged, Webbers Falls Mayor Jewell Horne said. It wasn’t clear if the same barge hit both bridges.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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