A 750-foot oil tanker struck one of the towers of the Bay Bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., late Monday morning. There was no immediate major damage.
The vessel, named the Overseas Reymar, struck the so-called "Echo Tower," or Tower 6, on the far east side of the bridge's western span around 11:20 a.m., according to the Coast Guard. The visibility at the time was about a quarter mile. The vessel was headed toward Martinez, officials said, to drop off some goods before heading out to sea.
At an afternoon news conference, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Shawn Lansing said there was no "spill or discharge into the water," and everyone aboard was safe.
Still, Lansing said, investigators are looking at the integrity of the ship, to make there is no extensive, internal structural damage.
Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said the ship damaged its own starboard-side fender system but there was no damage to the bridge itself. The Coast Guard described the damage as a "crushing" of the ship's fender (seen in the image below to the right ).
But the most important thing to remember, Ney added emphatically: "The Bay Bridge is safe." He described the whole affair as a "scrape."
From the NBC Bay Area chopper, there was some visible damage to the base of the bottom floating portion of the concrete base of the bridge.
While this incident did not appear to wreak much havoc, the proximity of a tanker so close the Bay Bridge brought up immediate memories of the Cocso Busan.
That huge spill occurred on Nov. 7, 2007, when more than 53,000 gallons of fuel spilled into the San Francisco bay, after the container ship, the Cosco Busan, struck the Delta Tower of the Bay Bridge in thick fog.
Investigators in that case found that pilot John Cota was impaired from his use of prescription pharmaceuticals. He was sentenced to ten months in federal prison. Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, releasing a flow of funds to clean up the major environmental damage.
Photo Credit: NBC Bay Area