THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503260150
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: KIPTOPEKE LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Rough weather Saturday hampered a search for the driver of a tractor-trailer that plunged off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel on Friday afternoon.
The identity of the missing man was not released Saturday, but police believe he died in the accident.
The Coast Guard suspended a search about 5 1/2 hours after the accident. It was unlikely that a person could survive longer than that given the chilly water conditions, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
Crofton Diving Corp. of Portsmouth, contracted by the bridge-tunnel district, attempted to dive the wreck site Saturday but was unable because of the weather, co-owner Bob Crofton said.
Crofton said divers will try to search today. The truck, owned by Richfood Holdings Inc. of Richmond, fell into about 40 feet of water, Crofton said, and may not be salvageable.
The tractor-trailer careened off the west side of the North Channel bridge about 1:05 p.m., after the driver slammed on his brakes to avoid a van stopped at a site where road work was being done. The truck jackknifed, tearing out about 50 feet of guardrail and damaging some of the span's concrete, Lorraine Smith, a bridge-tunnel spokeswoman, said.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY by CNB