Towboat Captain Involved In Bridge Collapse Had Heart Problems
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Federal transportation investigators say the towboat captain in the 2002 Interstate 40 bridge collapse in
Oklahoma had serious abnormal heart rhythms. They say William Joe Dedmon fainted from low blood flow to the
brain just before the towboat veered off course and rammed the bridge near Webbers Falls. Fourteen people died when their vehicles plunged into the
Arkansas River in the May 16th, 2002, accident. Five more people were injured. The board`s preliminary
findings are to be released after the meeting. The NTSB says Dedmon was tired from sleeping only about nine hours in the two days before to the accident. But the agency says fatigue did not likely cause him to lose consciousness.
