A Florida diver at the Skyway disaster reflects on Baltimore bridge collapse
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For many Floridians, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore felt eerily familiar. Over four decades ago, the southbound span of the first Sunshine Skyway bridge was struck by the 19,734-ton freighter Summit Venture.
Robert Raiola, a former Florida Department of Transportation bridge inspector, still remembers that day vividly. He and his partner Michael Betz recovered bodies from the waters of Tampa Bay after the Skyway fell.
Raiola shared his thoughts on a call with the Tampa Bay Times. Here are his words, edited for length and clarity:
“I got a phone call from my daughter, who let me know that a bridge had gotten hit by a ship. I was still in bed and turned on the TV and of course the first thing I saw was the freighter stuffed up underneath the bridge with debris and roadway draped across the bow of the ship. And of course, that immediately was a flashback to such a similar photo of the Skyway disaster.
The video that was shown was spectacular. I noticed the little-to-no actual pier protection, which kind of took my breath away because I had figured by now, especially after the Skyway, that it had almost become mandatory to have some type of protection on vulnerable main piers. So I was a little disheartened that it looked so naked and so unprotected.
Later on, I heard the mayday call that went out and was so thankful that the traffic that was about to get onto the bridge was stopped by the police and other people that were in the area. That was quite a relief. Obviously, it didn’t happen at the Skyway. A person tried to stop people but he was ignored, and people continued to tumble off.
I know the visibility in Baltimore is significantly worse than it was at the Skyway. I know that the currents are significantly stronger. And I knew that the rescue people, specifically the divers, were going to have a very difficult time with their task. They put them in the water at about daybreak and were able to begin their recovery efforts. Unfortunately, I figured there probably wouldn’t be any survivors unless there was a tremendous miracle. I can relate to the divers.
In my opinion, the bridge debris had probably gotten settled completely to the bottom and I’m sure when the divers got into the water it was dark and murky. I’m sure there were bridge noises, still some shifting. They have very strong tides up there and I’m sure there was some movement around the bridge. I imagine the visibility wasn’t more than three feet, even with powerful lights.
They had a couple of advantages that we didn’t have in 1980. One of them being new technology. With the underwater sonar, or side-scan sonar, they could take a vessel with that equipment on board and travel the length of the bridge and pick up the vehicles and the structure as it laid on the bottom. You can get a very, very detailed picture of what it looks like. I think that was a big boost to their ability to locate the vehicles and possibly the victims.
Even with someone submerged in their line of sight, it would take some time to recover everyone. I understand even as of this morning that they’re still looking for six bodies. It sounds like there were construction workers on the side, which is extremely unfortunate. My heart goes out to the rescue divers and the families as well. I’m sure they’re still torn.
The divers probably went home, like I did that evening of the Skyway disaster, wishing they could have done more and wishing they could have recovered everyone that night. I’m sure when they go back in the water, they’re going to be doubling their efforts to recover the victims as respectfully and as quickly as possible. That right now, to me, is still the No. 1 task. The debris removal, removing the ship from that site, that stuff will come later on. I’m sure there’s going to be an investigation and that will take some time. So I hope everybody has patience.
The thing with the Skyway is it’s still so sensitive. I post on Facebook and I still get responses from people saying [harbor pilot] John Lerro was drunk and the Skyway was in bad shape and was going to fall down anyways and he shouldn’t have done this and it should have been better protected. But people don’t realize that in the mid-1950s when it was built, they did what they thought was best. Did they keep up with technology and methods of protecting the bridge? No, apparently not. The days before the bridge got hit, my partner Mike and I were out there doing an investigation on the existing bridge fender system. They were putting out plans to add more protection out there. Would it have stopped anything? Absolutely not, because the bridge was struck where the fender system wouldn’t have been hit anyways.
I was just aghast that they didn’t make it mandatory nationwide to protect bridges like the Skyway that are vulnerable, especially with heavy port traffic. Every port, every state has different requirements for regulation. Some ports require a harbor pilot to hop aboard, some require tugboats to follow the boat. Obviously some don’t. Unfortunately, the results are what ended up happening today. I hate to say it’s a preventable tragedy, but to me, that’s what it looks like.
The economic impact is tremendous — millions of dollars every day being rerouted to other ports is going to cause a problem. The reconstruction is going to be a huge undertaking. It’s going to take years to decide what kind of bridge and to get construction started and to re-open that major artery.
I truly hope that the Skyway disaster’s record of 35 victims is not broken. I hope that the body count stays down low, and that ours remains the worst tragedy in US history and that there’s not that many victims when this accident comes to a conclusion.”
