Undetected heart ailment led to fatal I-40 bridge accident, NTSB rules

摘要

An abnormal heart rhythm that could not be detected in a physical exam was probably the reason the captain of the towboat Robert Y. Love fainted just before his tug and tow went off course and struck a highway bridge, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The accident on May 26, 2002, resulted in the deaths of 14 people. The towboat was pushing two empty barges when the captain lost consciousness. The lead barge then struck a pier on the Interstate 40 bridge over the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The impact knocked down a 503-foot-long section of the bridge, and eight cars and three semitrailer trucks hurtled off the bridge and into the water.