Seven people have been confirmed dead in a freak barge accident over the weekend that caused a major highway bridge to collapse, authorities here said.
Four bodies were retrieved from vehicles in the murky Arkansas River yesterday, and three others had been recovered on Sunday, after two barges rammed a support structure of Oklahoma's Interstate 40 bridge early Sunday.
The collision knocked a 600-foot (180-meter) section of the bridge into the water, along with several cars and trucks. In addition to the bodies of the seven people, recovery personnel also recovered the bodies of three horses from a horse trailer that had fallen from the bridge.
Four people survived the accident, according to officials. Mr Joe Dedmon (61) of the nearby state of Mississippi, had been piloting a tugboat leading the two empty barges up the river when he "blacked out," according to an Oklahoma Highway Patrol report released yesterday.
He was not seriously injured. Officials said they did not know why such an accident would cause the structure to break apart. "We're looking at design plans for the roadway and bridge" and comparing them to the actual structure built in 1967, said Mr George Black of the National Transportation Safety Board. He said investigators would also examine the vessel's steering mechanism.