Quote:
Originally Posted by pickettt
Pilot. Tugboat. Any members here Coast Guard?
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What a tragedy.
No coast guard but active master mariner here.
From what I understood there were two Pilots onboard.
It is uncommon to have one or more tugs accompanying a vessel the whole stretch from berth to sea. A vessel this size needs speed to be able to steer rendering the use of tugs obsolete.
Too early to draw conclusions about the root cause.
Might be human error or a technical failure which unfortunately can happen any time.
No different on vessels than in aviation and space craft industry.
Lots of procedures and systems in place to avoid such incidents on which we are audited and frequently inspected by i.e. coast guard, port state control, flag state and classification societies.
From what I can see there are no physical barriers in the water protecting the pillars. That is an engineering oversight in the design phase of the bridge imho.
Feeling for the victims families and for the captain who is by law ultimately responsible.