Child's Body Recovered From Bridge Collapse
Officials think all victims found

May 29, 2002
A portion of the Interstate 40 bridge where a barge struck Sunday near Webbers Fall in eastern Oklahoma.

WEBBERS FALLS, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Search crews Wednesday recovered the body of a 3-year-old girl who died with her parents when their vehicle plunged into the Arkansas River after a barge slammed into an Interstate 40 bridge in eastern Oklahoma.

The recovery brings the death toll to 14 from the Sunday accident.

Authorities said the body of Shea Nicole Johnson of Labaca, Arkansas was found at 11 a.m. The bodies of her parents, Misty and James Johnson, were retrieved Monday evening.

Officials said they believe all the bodies have now been found and the operation is being moved from a recovery effort to a salvage operation.

About a third of the I-40 bridge fell after a towboat pushed a barge into a support Sunday morning. Authorities said they believe at least three semi-trailers and a cluster of other vehicles are buried under slabs of concrete.

The identities of some victims have been withheld pending notification of relatives. In addition to the Johnsons, the following names have been released:

* U.S. Army soldier Andrew Clements, 35, who was driving from California to see his family in Woodbridge, Virginia; his body was recovered Sunday.

* Jeanine Catherine Cawley, 48, of Lebanon, Oregon; her body was recovered Monday from her Dodge pickup. Her husband survived the fall and was treated and released from a hospital.

EMERGENCY INFO
Oklahoma authorities have set up a family assistance center in Webbers Falls. The number is 918-464-2920. 


* Margaret Green, 45, of Stockdale, Texas, and Gail Shanahan, 49, of Corpus Christi, Texas; their bodies were pulled Sunday from a white Dodge pickup.


* Harlis "Wayne" Martin, 49, a police officer and volunteer diver, and his wife, Susan, of Norman, Oklahoma; their bodies were found Monday. They were headed to a family reunion in Clarksville, Arkansas.


* Paul Tailele Jr., 39, of Magna, Utah; his body was recovered Monday.



A fisherman who helped pull a survivor from the river said he watched helplessly as vehicle after vehicle drove off the bridge's edge and dove 60 feet into the water.

"That went on for almost five minutes. Just one car after another," said Norman Barton, who witnessed the disaster from his boat, where he was participating in a bass fishing tournament.

"It was just one car after another hitting the end of the bridge at 70 mph. Nobody could see that the bridge was gone."
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said Tuesday the towboat pushing the barge had previous steering problems.

Cmdr. Jim McPherson said the boat, the Robert Y. Love, lost control and struck the Eads Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1994. It also had a steering problem in another incident, he said, without elaborating.

Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Natalie Magnino said the 1994 steering problem was caused by debris that got caught in the rudder and did not result from mechanical failure or pilot error.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have been interviewing the towboat's pilot, Joe Dedmon, 61, of Florence, Alabama. He told authorities he lost consciousness just before the accident.

George Black of the NTSB said the crash came as a surprise to the crew.

"They heard no change in the engine power or attempt to go into reverse before impact," Black said. "They heard no general alarm, and they heard no collision whistle."

Cars and trucks were being routed around the heavily traveled interstate section.

The river has been closed for three miles on either side of the stricken bridge to keep the area clear for recovery efforts and because "we're not sure of the structural integrity of it," Magnino said.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/29/bridge.collapse/index.html