SKYWAY TO DOOM   Has the ghost of the American
construction worker put a curse on the In January, 23 coastguards were killed when their cutter collided with an oil tanker. The following month, a freighter smashed into one of the main bridge supports, and ten days later a tanker ran out of control, and slammed into the main span. But the worst accident to hit the jinxed bridge came on May 9. Possibly blinded by the wind-lashed rain of violent storm, skipper of a 10,000 ton Liberian freighter, Summit Venture, misjudged his approach to the bridge. Instead of passing under the middle of it, the ship ploughed into one of the main supports, and a huge section of the road running over it collapsed. Cars, trucks and a Greyhound bus plunged 150 feet into the water; 32 people died, 23 of them on the bus. Other drivers missed death by inches, slamming on their brakes just in time as the yawning gap opened up in front of them. The Florida House of Representatives
stood for a moment’s silence as news of the tragedy reached them during a
meeting. One member blamed the But a local fisherman 27-year-old Charlie Williams said later: when the bridge was being built, a construction worker fell into some wet concrete. He’s still there, in the structure. The Skyway has been cursed ever since.” The bridge, which is four miles long, was opened in September 1954. More than 40 people have committed suicide by leaping from it. |
