Posted on 05/30/2002 9:53:55 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
CBS) (WEBBERS FALLS, Oklahoma) May 30, 2002 6:01 pm US/Eastern
The investigation into the barge accident that collapsed a portion of the Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River is now focusing on the captain of the towboat, Joe Dedmon.
Fourteen people were killed when a barge he was towing rammed into the bridge Sunday morning.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board interviewed Dedmon on Wednesday, said Brett Beuerman, spokesman for barge owner Magnolia Marine Transport Co. of Vicksburg, Miss.
"It went the way we thought it would go," Beuerman said Thursday. "There were no surprises."
Ken Suydam, the National Transportation Safety Board's investigator in charge of the accident, said tests showed no traces of illicit drugs in Dedmon's system.
"The Coast Guard records reveal no previous suspensions or violations on the captain's record," he added.
However, in the 42 hours preceding the accident, Dedmon had had less than 10 hours of sleep, Suydam told reporters.
"Nine-point-five hours of sleep, 32 hours of awake," he said. "He's asleep for 3.5 hours, he's awake for 14.5 hours, asleep for six. He's awake for five and the accident occurs."
The NTSB did interview the towboat's five other crew members, who said they tried to rescue victims but their skiff got caught in a load of hoses that spilled out of a tractor-trailer rig.
Suydam, who interviewed Dedmon Wednesday, said that the last thing Dedmon says he remembers before the crash was passing a marker in the river. That would have taken place about five minutes before the tug's barges hit the bridge.
"The limited information on medical history we have on him at this time does not reveal anything remarkable in those records," Suydam said.
Dedmon also said that he was conscious immediately afterward.
Meanwhile, the search for more victims of the accident has been called off. If there are any more bodies in the murky depths, divers can't seem to find them.
Transportation officials used the giant claw of a crane to hoist chunks of concrete and twisted rebar from the muddy river. Divers gave up on recovery Wednesday afternoon, calling it a salvage operation instead.
"They have exhausted every hot spot," said Lt. Brandon Kopepasah of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
He said he didn't believe there were any more bodies or cars in the water under the Interstate 40 bridge. Still, divers planned to stand by in case sonar detected anything.
The most recent victim pulled from the river was a 3-year-old girl, whose body floated a half-mile downstream. Rescuers found Shea Nicole Johnson of Lavaca, Ark., Wednesday morning. The bodies of her parents, Misty Johnson, 28, and James Johnson, 30, were recovered Monday.
The family was traveling to Tulsa when their car plummeted into the river through a 500-foot gap in the bridge about 40 miles from the Arkansas state line.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. Chris West said Thursday that nearly all of the victim's bodies have been returned to their families for funerals.
All of the victims except one, Army Capt. Andrew Clements, drowned, authorities said. Clements, who was traveling with his German shepherd to a new home in Virginia, died of blunt trauma to the head.
Skid marks on a section of the collapsed bridge don't stop before the edge. Witnesses said they saw at least one vehicle come to a screeching stop, then get shoved into the river by other cars.
One set of marks stretches about 300 feet. Authorities said those were from a truck driver who was able to back up from the edge.
Workers pulled 10 vehicles from the water, many of them mangled with busted-out windows.
State officials said it will cost about $15 million and take as long as six months to repair the bridge. They asked travelers to avoid far eastern Oklahoma.
Bruce Taylor, chief engineer with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said authorities are developing a plan to demolish the damaged portion of the bridge. He said his chief concern is how to remove an 800-ton span that collapsed on one of the barges.
"It's a very unique situation," Taylor said. "The piece that's hanging down will have to be demolished in place.
"I was surprised that the bridge steel could be twisted up and damaged like it was. It amazed me. I couldn't imagine the forces involved in causing that to happen," Taylor said.
Two bridge engineers from California who helped rebuild earthquake-damaged structures were dispatched to Oklahoma at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist in rebuilding the bridge. Taylor said design changes are being planned to speed up the project.
"All of this is impacting how long it's going to take us to resume traffic on I-40," he said.
Signs along the interstate warn miles in advance that the road is ending, directing drivers onto winding two-lane highways through the hilly eastern Oklahoma farmlands of corn and cattle. Traffic snarls through tiny towns along the detour.
This barge accident happened at 7:45am, after he had been up for 5 hours. Remember the commuter train in LA that was hit head-on by a freight last month? Freight crew fell asleep(approx. 7:30am). Also the likely explanation for the freight train collision in Clarendon, TX on Monday(approx. 9:00am). Earlier this year a passenger train ran through switches at Washington DC Union Station when the operator fell asleep entering it at approx. 7am, but was awakened before a worse accident could take place.
I can only speak for railroads, but truckers and apparently barge operators have similar problems. On the railroad the law requires that you be given 8 hours off for rest if you work less than 12 hours, or 10 hours off if you are on duty for more than 12. But the railroad is allowed to phone and give you your call for the next assignment 2, 3, or even 4 hours before that 8 or 10 hours is up. Further, no set schedule is required, so you could work 10 hours, be off 8, work 11:55 more, be off 8, work 6, be off 8, work 11, be off 8, etc., and thus go for months or even years without a set sleep pattern. Sure the industry says go home and get your rest, but its often not possible to have such varying off times and get normal sleep, plus there's the matter of driving home, running chores, seeing family, etc. So too often there are walking zombies operating heavy machinery. Ask any doctor about the effects of prolonged and chronic sleep deprivation. I'm convinced it takes years off these guys lives.
Try it for yourself for a week and see how you function: Come off vacation Monday morning, wait all day for the call, go to bed at 8pm because you know that you are first out on the extra board, but can't sleep, finally doze off about 11. Phone rings at 11:30, go to work at 2:30am. Off at noon, grab a bite and crawl into the hotel bed about 2pm, phone wakes you at 6:30pm, on duty 8:30pm, off at 7:30am Wed. Get some breakfast, run some errands(since it looks like you are several times out, and may not get back from the next trip until Friday night, but missed seeing the kids, already at school), Hit the hay about 11am, but the phone rings at 1:30pm. "Would you like to work the X job this afternoon?" No way, but your sleep has been interrupted. Roll over, but phone rings again at 3pm. They ran a lot of extras, so your turn has come up, be there at 6pm.
So you run all night, off at 5am, crawl into the hotel bed around 7am, wake about 3pm, mill about, wait some more(not running many trains right now) lay down at 11 but you can't sleep, phone rings at 1am for 3am on duty. Off at 1pm on Friday, crawl into bed at 2:30pm but up at 6 to take the family to dinner and watch the boy's football game. At the game you are paged to be on duty at 11pm.
Problems along the way, you hit the 12 hours max you can work, sit for 2 hours awaiting the recrew, take another 2 hours to van back to the terminal, off at 3pm, in bed at 4:30. Sleep like a baby, but the phone rings at 11pm, on duty at 1am Sunday. Quick run gets you off duty at 7am. Drive home, eat breakfast, and in bed at 9, but up at noon to go to the girl's recital(Since you've missed the last 5). Phone rings at 7pm be on duty at 10pm. So its now 8am Monday morning, you've been up 20 hours and got less than 30 hours sleep in the entire week(an average of 4.5 hours per day, since it is technically illegal on most railroads to even catnap while on duty, irregardless of whether you are on the train or sitting around the yard office. And do you think that you'd sleep in the shuttle vans? Drivers are often ex-cons or drug addicts paid by the run rather than minimum wage, no hours or service limit, thus may have been on duty for 15 or more hours and earned less than $50 in that time. They are often sleepier than the crews.) Only 6 months to go until your next vacation(since 3 out of your last 4 markoff requests have been denied), its only been one week and you are dog tired. Can see the dominoes lining up for a fall?
There are serious safety issues regarding sleep deprivation throughout the transportation industry that year in and year out are never addressed. As corrupt and scummy as they are, there are some legitimate reasons why unions are so prevalent in these industries. This is one of the few areas where more regulation IS needed.
From all I can tell the Coast Guard has done a pretty good job, and is getting the information out in a timely manner. This isn't the Flight 800 investigation.
The Navy has done it ever since but the person has to be conditioned to the task. If you are accoustomed to this type work it becomes routine. BTW I was also an OTR truck driver at one time. True the driver may run up to 20 hours including stops to get to a destination or stopping point for sleep. He may as well likely stay there at least 24 hours waiting on another load to be scheduled. I was stuck in some places for nearly a week. Califorina was a truckers nightmare as far as that goes. If you didn't have a reefer you were going to sit a spell. In that time you don't earn a penny. You drive by the mile not by the hour. You don't move you don't get paid.
In general a weekend home every two weeks caught my aviable drive hours up if I was out of time.
There were some days I got zero hours sleep. Especially during our readiness evaluations. About the time you got good and asleep "General Quarters" decided to pay a visit. There's plent of civilian jobs that operate on a on extended hours too. Hospitals, firehalls, ambulance services, and more.
Notice the statement made by the transportation offical about the bridge? Maybe the concrete & steel needs a good look see also. With the Arkansas being a fast current river it would be crazy not to allow for some probable impacts in the construction of it. I've seen big ships tear away from piers and not to this much damage even to the pier itself.
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