Azimut Boat Crash - Oops

... the jury to see the video leading up to this point. There is more to this story than (no pun intended) meets the eye.

This is indeed at the old (sliding) Chalkis bridge - one of the few places in the Med where you can experience nasty tidal streams. It has a pretty standard 5 knot flow & is said to reach 10 knots. I would guess that the bridge was closed before the Azimut was safely cleared.

Considering the speed of the current, the jury rigged manner of the "tow" and the highly unlikely event that the bridge operator closed the bridge while a tow was passing through, my bet is that the boat was fouled on the closed bridge and the tug was taking considerable risk and demonstrating pretty darn good seamanship in rescuing a couple of boaters who were very lucky all they lost was some top hamper.

Agreed. Unless that tow operator somehow dropped them back into the bridge (which there is no indication of in the video) the only possibilities are that the bridge operator dropped the bridge early (which is doubtful as it is completely down and the tow would have had them much more centered) or that the tow operator is rescuing them from a self-inflicted wedging. The last senario certainly is the most plausable. Doing this was indeed taking considerable risk as I've seen both the USCG and 2 tow companies leave a boat in similar circumstances for the tide to turn.

It looks like the bridge tender closed the bridge early. You can see in the video that the Tow Boat is taller (has more air space) then the Azimut. It doesn't look good, especially when the entire radar fell off into the cockpit off of the arch that was already smashed down. It looks like a 50' Azimut. I ran one before and it needed about 18 feet of clearance.

I doubt that is what happened, even Zorba on a bad day wouldn't do something like that, he would have had to start closing while the tug was still in the way. It is a sliding bridge, by the way, not a bascule bridge like we are all familiar with.

And, more to the point, no tug driver is going to rig a tow like what we see on the video. That has to be an emergency operation. When towing in restricted water, especially in strong currents, the tow is very short or "on the hip" not like what is shown. The tug guy really did take a chance, if he lost power he would have taken out the bridge. He did a good job but, like NYCAP said, wiser seamen would wait for slack water. If, as it appears, the boat got sideways and stuck under the bridge, the crew could easily have been rescued from the roadway and no lives appear to have been at stake.

Maybe someone who knows the story will chime in.

After zooming in bit and slowing the action (3) things struck me but I'm not quite sure what to make of them: 1) The bow rail is trashed on the stbd side. 2) the tow line apparently has a bridle yet seems to be only secured on the port cleat and 3) there's a line off the port stern (swim platform) cleat. To me they all imply actions of an inexperienced skipper. (Azimut not tow boat).

While on Youtube checking this out I saw this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zwUxN8jg4Y&feature=related

What the heck went on there???
You can see Alcatraz for miles.

Hi,

A loss of control, attention distracted or a mechanical failure could all be the cause of this accident but an overall very common cause of things like this is I am afraid to say much simpler than all these.

It is called Stupidity and is an affliction that lurks inside everyone it just needs the right atmosphere and circumstances to come leaping to the forefront.

"cargo ship that hit a lift bridge "

I've seen that one, it's a classic. There is another one of a pushboat being swept under a bridge somewhere. I'll try and find the links and post them if I have time, they really are classics.