ST. LOUIS — Following the catastrophic Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, 5 On Your Side is taking a look back at a major crash involving a bridge in the St. Louis region that left dozens injured.
Note: The video above is from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Tuesday.
Just before 8 p.m. on April 4, 1998, a towboat called the Anne Holly was pulling 12 loaded and two empty barges upstream on the Mississippi River through the St. Louis Harbor when it struck a Missouri-side pier of the Eads Bridge, according to a Marine accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
According to the NTSB, eight barges broke away from the tow and drifted back through the Missouri span. Three of the barges struck the President Casino on the Admiral, a riverboat casino sat permanently on the riverbank, causing eight of the riverboat's 10 mooring lines to break.
The captain of the Anne Holly then disengaged the six remaining barges from the tow and placed the towboat's bow against the Admiral to hold it against the bank. At about the same time, the Admiral's next-to-last mooring line broke, and the last mooring wire was all that held the Anne Holly and the Admiral near the Missouri riverbank, according to the NTSB report.
The crash left 50 people injured, 16 of them hospitalized, and caused an estimated $11 million in damages, according to the report.
Passengers on the Admiral were first evacuated onto the Anne Holly using a foot-wide plank and then a ramp provided by the St. Louis Fire Department, according to the report. Later, two nearby Gateway Riverboat Cruises vessels, the Becky Thatcher and Tom Sawyer, assisted in the emergency response, transferring Admiral passengers on the Anne Holly to shore. The Becky Thatcher offloaded 927 people, and the Tom Sawyer offloaded another 787 people. The evacuation process took about 3 1/2 hours.
An investigation by the NTSB found the probable cause of the crash was the Anne Holly captain's poor decision-making in attempting to travel St. Louis Harbor with a large tow in darkness and under high current and flood conditions. It also cited the failure of American Milling, L.P., management to have an adequate policy ensuring the safe operation of its towboats.
When it came to the near breakaway of the Admiral, the NTSB cited the failure of riverboat's owner, local and state authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard to adequately protect the boat from waterborne and current-related risks.
Following the investigation, NTSB made safety recommendations to the Coast Guard, the Research and Special Programs Administration, the states of Missouri and Illinois, the cities of St. Louis and East St. Louis, the National League of Cities, the American Association of Port Authorities, the American Gas Association, the American Public Gas Association, President Casinos, Inc., Laclede Gas Company and American Milling, L.P.
To watch 5 On Your Side broadcasts or reports 24/7, 5 On Your Side is always streaming on 5+. Download for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV or the Apple TV App Store.