![]() “She met the end of her life on the bridge,” said Barlow. Shanahan, 49, of Stockdale, Texas, was a professional barrel racer and horse trainer returning to Texas after a Futurity competition in Fort Smith. Former Mayor Jewel Hall, organizer of the memorial ceremony, is holding an event on Monday, May 30. Janet Barlow of Wimberley, Texas, left, talks about Gail Shanahan, who died in the collapse of the Weber’s Falls Bridge in 20902. Janet Barlow of Wimberly, Texas, traveled to Webbers Falls on Sunday to remember victim Gail Shanahan. Watching my kids grow up and knowing that Shay is just a year and a half older than my youngest daughter.” There’s a difference.” I have the holidays with the kids, stuff like that. She said the holidays are difficult even after two decades.īilly Appler said, “It’s a weird time that it hits you. We won’t know for sure by Tuesday evening.” Didn’t run,” Appler recalls. We were trying to catch them on their cellphones, (James and Misty Johnson) and just unknown. “It was a phone call from my mom asking me if I was okay. ‘I was shocked’: Webers Falls Bridge recalls first soldier scene to arrive at disaster Gone but not forgotten: Former Mayor to Host Memorial in Honor of Webers Falls Bridge Tragedy Everyone loved Jim,” Appler said.īilly Appler said he remembers “disbelief” when he answered a telephone call from his mother about the tragedy at Weber’s Falls 20 years earlier. He was a great guy in our area in our community. She spoke about her late brother in Webbers Falls on Monday. She said she lives with memories of losing three family members out of the 14 who died. Only five people who plunged off the bridge survived.Surviving family members of 14 victims made the trek to Webers Falls for a Memorial Day celebration on Monday, two decades after the tragedy.īilly Appler of ALMA is the sister of James Johnson who was in Webbers Falls on Monday. They returned to the towboat when the skiff's propeller became entangled in debris, malfunctioned and would not restart. He said he detected no problem with the captain's behavior.Ībout one minute later, the captain sounded the general alarm and crew members rushed to the deck and saw cars and people in the water.Īfter making two emergency calls - one by cell phone, the other by radio - to the Coast Guard, crew members launched a skiff and tried to rescue survivors. ![]() The crew member said that before going below decks, he could see the Interstate 40 bridge in the distance. However, Suydam said Wednesday that blood and urine samples taken immediately after the crash have been turned over to an Oklahoma state police lab and results have not been received.Īccording to crew members interviewed by the NTSB, Dedmon was in the wheelhouse piloting the tug and was visited by a crewman five to ten minutes before the crash. The pilot, Joe Dedmon, 60, of Florence, Miss., told state troopers that he blacked out just before the crash.Īlthough he was not injured in the accident, Dedmon was admitted to a Muskogee hospital and his doctor has not allowed NTSB investigators to interview him.ĭedmon also has obtained an attorney who has kept investigators at bay, Suydam said.Īttorneys for Magnolia Marine Transport Co., owners of the towboat, have said that Dedmon tested negative for drugs and alcohol. Ken Suydam, the chief investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the vessel did not swerve, as if making too wide a turn at a bend in the river, but instead veered at angle from its normal route. The barges, propelled by a towboat, veered nearly 300 feet from the main river channel to strike the piers that supported the bridge. Salvage crews will now begin working the site, he said, but recovery workers will stand by in case more vehicles or bodies are detected.Ī 600-foot section of the bridge fell into the river early Sunday morning after being struck by two empty tanker barges being pushed up river at about 5 mph. "The divers have examined every hot spot," Kopepasah said. No more vehicles have been found since Tuesday and officials are hopeful none remain in the water. They are Jerry Gillion, 58, and his wife, Patricia, 58, of Spiro, Okla, and David Mueggenburg, 52, and his wife, Jean, 51, of Okarche, Okla. The names of four more victims were released Wednesday. In all, 14 bodies and ten vehicles have been recovered. The bodies of her parents were recovered earlier and the child was presumed dead because she was known to be traveling with them. The body of Shea Nicole Johnson, the only child known to have died when the Interstate 40 bridge collapsed after being struck by a barge, was found floating about a half-mile down river from where the car in which she was riding plunged into the water. ![]()
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