Video of ship almost hitting the Gamboa Bridge:
http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20121120162952580
Gamboa is midway on the Panama Canal, and is home of the Dredging Division that keeps the Gatun Lake area open. This bridge is the only land route from Gamboa to the rest of Panama and crosses the Chagres River at that location.
Disaster Averted - Panama Canal Ship Almost Smashes Into Gamboa Bridge (Video)
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com
- The ships that transit the Panama Canal on a daily basis can be
difficult to handle. Yesterday afternoon a bulk carried named the
"Pacific Bless", 32300 tons, nearly slammed into the bridge over the
Chagres River in Gamboa, and the incident was caught on video.The
ship was Northbound in the Panama Canal, and has just about to clear the
area of the Culebra Cut and head off through Lake Gatun. For some
reason the pilot lost control of the vessel, and it veered to starboard
(right), and was heading right towards the bridge.The pilot ordered full reverse and dropped the starboard anchor, in an attempt to halt the ship as quickly as possible. In the video below, you can see the smoke pouring from the front of the ship, thanks to the emergency deployment of the anchor.
The ship came to a halt and then slowly backed away from the bridge, with about one meter to spare.
Also see: http://gamboalife.com/node/321
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