BALTIMORE SPARKS EERIE MEMORY: I WAS AT A SIMILAR BRIDGE COLLAPSE 44-YEAR AGO

May 9, 1980 Sunshine Skyway Bridge CollapsePhoto byTom Martino Career Collection

The tragic and catastrophic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday, March 26th brought back chilling memories for me, recalling when I was the first reporter at the scene of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapse 44-years ago in St. Peterburg, Florida, when a freighter slammed into its main concrete support.

On May 9, 1980, I was at home getting ready for work, when I got a call shortly before 8:00am from a frantic assignment editor, “Get to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge now!”

At the time I was a television reporter at WTVT-TV in Tampa. I worked out of the Pinellas county bureau in St. Petersburg, so I did not live far from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

I rushed to the scene and arrived 18-minutes later, meeting my videographer at the bridge. We got there before the Department of Transportation and police had completely restricted access, so we were able to run up to within 20-feet of the mangled edge. The most haunting memory is when I stared over the railing and looked down at the water, where I could see a Trailways bus bobbing beneath the surface, with bodies still trapped inside.

Thirty-two people in all died on that foggy, rainy day when the freighter, MV Summit Venture, slammed into the bridge at 7:38 in the morning. Later the National Highway Transportation Safety Board determined the collision was caused by adverse weather conditions and poor visibility.

Shortly after arriving, we did a “live shot” from the edge for local and network news show. I do not have a recording of the live reports, but I did keep some of my reporting from that day. You can see that video HERE.