A crew member on the ship next to the barge heard their cries for help and saw them floating away. He called on the marine radio for help. The Tacoma Narrows Project builders hired Pacific River Maritime Security to help prevent just such a tragedy from occurring. No one ever though that such an event would occur in the middle of the night though. Well luckily for the victims Pacific River Maritime Security was working all night to prevent ships from hitting the lifting bars that were hanging down from cranes above the bridge.
Alan Espasandin answered the marine radio and immediately began a search for the victims. "I could hear them yelling for help...but I couldn't see them." "I wanted to hurry to their location but I didn't want to run them over in the process so I had to slowly creep toward the sound of their voices...it was very frustrating." "To be able to see them I headed down current from where I thought they were so that I could use the backlighting coming from the bridge and ship to see them in the water...it worked! As I approached them the male victim asked me 'Can you see us' I told him I could...I think he was afraid I couldn't see them and would run them over."
"I pulled the female victim from the water first, she was ice-cold to the touch and as she stood warming herself in the cabin of the boat she said 'I shouldn't be alive' and then began to worry for their third member...they did not realize that he was safe on the barge."
The two victims pulled from the water were reunited with their friend on the barge. Fire medical responded to check the victims for hypothermia or other injuries. A video of the newstory is available at KIRO 7 News or by clicking this link: CEO rescues 3 at Tacoma Narrows Bridge
TACOMA, Wash. -- Two men and a woman were rescued from the chilly waters near the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge after a man patrolling the construction project by boat found them early Tuesday morning, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.The three boaters -- who were not wearing life jackets -- jumped or fell into the water when their 10- to 12-foot skiff collided or nearly collided with a barge tied to a vessel carrying bridge parts for the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge project.The man on the security patrol boat found two of the boaters in the water and one clinging to the barge. He pulled them to safety.Fire department paramedics took them to a hospital to be checked out. They were OK.Coast Guard officials have warned boaters to stay away from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge construction operations.
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