Archived WTVT coverage: 1980 Sunshine Skyway Bridge disaster
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ค. 2014
- It was on May 9, 1980 when the unthinkable happened: the freighter M/V Summit Venture collided with a support column during a blinding thunderstorm, knocking a 1,200-foot section of the roadway into the water below. Six cars, a truck, and a bus plunged 150 feet into Tampa Bay, killing 35 people.
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Baltimore tragedy brought me here
Same here.
I suspect there were far fewer irrational conspiracies when this one happened lol
It’s amazing how fast history repeats itself
44 years is fast?
I lived in the Tampa Bay area at that time. There was a horrible violent thunderstorm that morning. The rain was coming down so hard, you couldn't see anything in front of you. Visibility was worse than fog, so bad that the driver of the Greyhound bus could not see that the bridge was gone. 35 people lost their lives, most of whom were on that bus, one was an infant whose body was never found. During the recovery of the bus, workers said the faces of the deceased passengers were frozen with fear. I can only imagine that horror of knowing what was happening while they plunged 150 feet into the water below. May God bless their souls forever.
According to Find A Grave,the infant is buried with her mother at Sunset Memorial Garden
Couldn't swim?
@studio732jrl2 Excuse me...I homeschool my daughter because the public schools are failing our children!
@studio732jrl2 My daughter does more activities now than she did in school. She is very well balanced. You can take your comment and shove it!!
@studio732jrl2 Why do trolls like you even exist? I can't stand narrow minded, douche nozzles that put down a whole group of people so that you can make a "joke." Talk about showing YOUR LACK of education! And BTW you are not funny, so quit trying.
This happened a few decades later on the Francis Scott Key Bridge as of watching this.
My Dad was going to be on that bridge at that day and time! But when he got up and ready for work he didn't feel right and or felt weird and so he decided to stay home that day! He was shocked when he saw it on the news!
I was working for a pool finishing company in the 80's and they used to pick me up at the corner gas station to take me with them over the Skyway Bridge down to Sarasota. When they stopped they would get out and get some coffee or whatever and then we would e on our way. On this one morning for some reason I decided to quit my job, maybe because it was raining I thought, so when they pulled in to the station and I was not there, they did not spend anymore time and went on their way. That was the same morning that the freighter M/V Summit Venture collided with a support column during a blinding thunderstorm, knocking a 1,200-foot section of the roadway into the water below @ 7:33 a.m. Had they stopped to pick me up at 7 a.m. and gotten their coffee, gone to the bathroom etc, that may have been us(me).
I understand
Yea okay
@@nfergus11 Yea okay
Gut instinct never fails
I was a college student in Tennessee back when this happened. I had just come home to Alabama for summer break,,and went to visit friends at Tuskegee Institute where I was introduced to two female students in their dorm room. They were packing for their summer break. It was days later when I learned those girls were among the dead in this accident, they were on the Greyhound bus that plunged into the bay that day. I still remember their faces.
I was born and raised in St Pete and Gulfport from 1965 to 1976. Went over the old bridge many times. Went with my oldest brother one time to pick up a 40 ford he bought from a guy in Bradenton. He pulled this car from Bradenton to Gulfport in the middle of the night (must have weighed 7000lbs idk). But he pulled it with his pickup truck and a chain (no tow bar required back then lol). I was probably nine or ten but went along for the ride i guess but still remember being terrified.
🙏🏾
That is simply horrifying.
I've been trying to find info on the passengers listed as Tuskegee U students since learning of this recently. Would you happen to know how many students were on board, and where were they coming from? May 9th would have been around the time of graduation because Tuskegee annually has graduation around or on mothers day. I just want to know how many students were actually involved in this tragedy, besides the fact that I'm just finding out about this. Thanks in advance for any info!
There was a survivor who saw the bridge collapse, and then immediately backed down the incline. The man tried to wave down three cars and that bus to warn them of the bridge collapse. Unfortunately, the traffic didn’t stop. All those people died as result, even though that poor man tried to stop them. I just couldn’t imagine being a survivor like that knowing that you were the last one to see those people alive.
How do you know this?
I drove across the bridge the day before it happened, and found myself in a major panic.. Friends that were in the car were really mad when I went the long way back on 301 that night, taking us 2 hours to get home. I had no idea why the panic, I only knew wasn't going back on that bridge again- even though been over it many times. It was a shock to wake up to the news of what happened.
Kristi Johnson How come you traveled it so many times and then all of a sudden didn’t want to anymore? Just curious as I went across the new one yesterday.
I drove the bridge 2 years before this incident and that was enough to make me wear Depends diapers from then on when crossing a bridge. I hated that bridge and the noise it made on your tires when you were at the top. What if you had to cross it everyday for work? I pay people to drive me across bridges now.
I went over the new one tonight
@@bluxdd8587 I drove over the old one, in my underwater car
@@bluxdd8587 the old one was a metal floor that wasn’t solid
Anybody checking this after the Baltimore Bridge Collapse of 2024?
I mean anyone that watches from that point on, is indeed watching after the baltimore tragedy lol
I remember driving southbound in the northbound span at night, and at the top, looking over all the sudden there was nothing. A creepy feeling I'll never forget.
Did the same as a 12 year old kid on vacation, maybe 2 months after it happened. Still gives me the chills.
You all know why i'm here. Jesus christ the one in Baltimore is even worse.
Hardly, Skyway killed more people
How is Baltimore worse when the loss of life is so much less?
It's really not...
Mostly the damage to infrastructure is worse, but the loss of life is less compared to the collapse in this video.
They were able to stop traffic in Baltimore when saw ship was out of control .Casualties were construction workers
And it happened again...
RIP to all from Nassau, Fl. This was a major shock.
Pray for my city
I have worked on on across the current skyway. On the towers, under it, everything. The bridge is stable and protected by everything but an 747 plane.
Yes, the new bridge. The old bridge was a rickety relic with inadequate bumpers to protect it.
@@1stGeorgiaGirl that’s incorrect, you should do some research on how fast that vessel was traveling when it hit the skyway. My great grandfather was the director of FLDOT and supervised both builds. Both bridges were both built to stand for 100’s of years and if you were apart of the build you would know that and not spread false lies.
My dad was there the next day and took some photos. His friend Tony Christman said it was fog related.
Years ago we lived in North Port Florida we move down there with a 33ft camper and I refuse to drive the truck and the camper over that bridge we had to take another route to get where we needed to go that bridge always scared me however we use it hundreds of times after we move there by driving automobiles not a truck in a camper
my parents told me about this.... it's pretty horrific
+Katelynn Word I was born on May 10th 1980 at Tampa General Hospital. My parents told me a lot about it too. Terrible.
I was 9 yo when this happened, and when they reopened the other side to two way traffic,my dad took the family on a road trip to scare the hell out of me my mother and my baby brother and I still have a problem with large bridges
You wuss!!!
What a dirt bag.
I'm from the Tampa Bay area. The weather was bad and people couldn't see and they were driving right off of the bridge a 180 foot drop...RIP🙏
Thats why you close bridges in imminent weather...floridians are and always will be stupid.
high and scary
I never drove on that bridge, but I have driven on the new about 3wks ago to St.Pete and it is scary! Never knew of the tragedy until now!
I moved to Tampa Bay 3 years after that happened and this was fresh in the mind back then. That bridge to me is super scary and the bridge I absolutely hate to drive over, the wind up there can be so strong and you have to fight to stay in your lane depending on the weather.
The dude on the boat got balls of steel 😂😂
Those poor people didn't stand a chance.
I just took drone footage of this place a couple days ago while fishing in the old bridge now a pier
I'm on this bridge right now.
(Passenger)
The bridge was replaced years ago.
It was closed in 1987.
Our Crew (ABC Liquors Maint Crews) was suppose to meet up in Sarasota for a project at that time too...I remember, unequivocally, the rain storms were so blinding that morning, must of started between 5-7 am because I had drove from Orlando to Tampa around 5:00 am and when I got closer to Tampa it got worse. I remember thinking to myself I couldnt even see ten feet out the front window of my work van. We were to meet up at the ABC Liquor store in St Pete, around around 7am and then all of us head over to Sarasota via SKYWAY...I was running a little late and held back the Crew. It was then I found out that the SKYWAY had collapsed. It was complete silence, very solemn atmosphere. Its been 40 years since Ive crossed the new SKYWAY...and saw the Memorial of all those that perished that morning...The married couples on vacation, the children and workers...very sad day for sure.
Today marks the 38th Anneversiary.
Beautiful blessings 🙏
One disaster was due to bad weather, the other was due to mechanical failure. Yet, two similar bridges brought down almost with ease.
It's like people never learn because they are in denial.
This same delusion of 'it won't happen here' goes for power companies who won't trim the trees back from the power lines. A fire that wiped out an entire town in CA was started because the tree branches were in the middle of the wires. Yet, you will see, all across the country, tree branches growing around the wires. No one cuts them back. WHY are people so stupid?
To think Larry Lawton is probably out there in this video rescuing people boggles my mind
Just watched his new vid
Nunya Bizness I’ve been addicted to those stories
Horrible and scary!
@Beverly Huttinger > They should have held until the storm had past.
I can't believe how close this reporter got his boat to the scene, I guess the coast guard had not arrived yet.
Before 9/11 America wasn't nearly as buttoned up as we are now.
That Fox station in the Tampa Bay area was the number 1 news and weather channel at that time for many years, beating out the three major networks. This was due to their reputation for excellent and accurate reporting.
@@1stGeorgiaGirlThey were the CBS station in 1980. I grew up in St Pete and remember that day well. I did not realize until the afternoon paper came and I saw the front page exactly what span had collapsed. I'd thought that it was the part only a few feet above the water, not the main span over the shipping channel.
Dali hitting the Key Bridge brought me here
is the water deep in that bay?
the bay is only 20 -30 feet, but the shipping channel is around 100 feet
Not really
eh, not deep but deep enough to fish. if memory serves me right: anchoring around the new bridge in particular is a bit dodgy, the floor is p close and mostly loose-ish sand
A young Tom Martino who came to Denver News
I can't believe that happen
Mark GTV captain jack both eyes are blind.
Meanwhile, young Larry Lawton is out there in his coast guard rescue boat, searching for dead bodies. /watch?v=dLj9jkTxHIk?t=763
I'm on the Bridge now 😆 lol
Lol same
kurokawa kokujin akihito!
that is insane how close this boat was able to get to the bridge. no protection, no nothing
Educate urself
@@BradleyAPrescott Ur PP is small
There was, it just rotted away because of laziness.
the bridge on the ship
That's was 39 years ago people lost their lives want down cold water unfortunately didn't make it bless the families love ones till Jesus Christ is coming coming soon
It wasn' t the first time that Captain hit THAT bridge.
Oof
:55 superstructure? It was a piece of crap
...it's a bridge. It's a superstructure.
You forgot to blame one of the political powers for the accident
I was actually on the bus that day... we were lucky to survive
Didn't everyone on the bus perish?
@@c.wu1478 I honestly don't remember.
@@rooh5825 you were on the bus that fell into the water?
@@elizabethw.454 yes it was awful
@@rooh5825 wow thank God you are still here with us! I can't imagine what you went through. I was a newborn when it happened. Just so awful to think about.
wow so it was a ship from Africa that causes that
Japanese built and crewed but owned by a foreign business.
A lot of ships are registered in liberia you clown
@@htos1av Educate urself and stop spreading lies. Both of the bridge’s were built by the best engineers in the US at the time, including my great grandfather who supervised the build and directed the FLDOT at the time.
So many suicides..RIP
I was born in 88. 8 years after this horrific accident. It startles me to think that had I only been born in 80 and had lived in Florida rather than Georgia…. This could have very well had been me on that bridge. 😭 Thank you 🙏 God! Blessed! 🙄
That’s like saying if anyone anywhere would have been born then and there they could have been on this bridge when this happened. That’s a ridiculous analogy
@thefrase7884 If I had been born in 1874 instead of 1974, lived in England instead of Pennsylvania, and been born to a family with old money wealth and needed to cross the Altantic, I may have died on the Titanic!
@@stephenshelton4267😂😂😂Ah! Hahaha
None of you all understand sarcasm. The poster is mocking those who try to put themselves into a disaster despite being nowhere near any danger.
1980s didn't have those on screen fox logos come on now be real
The logo was probably from a rebroadcast during a flashback or anniversary segment
i remember that day, i was taking a poo and then i heard about the bridge and started to lol. i then i wiped my bum with a towel and my mom cleaned the poo off it
I was there. It was funny 😄😆
The ship uses she/her pronouns.