« on: July 26, 2007, 09:17:52 PM »
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070726-0830-bn26engine2.html200-ton ship engine falls off truck, blocks traffic
By Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
8:30 a.m. July 26, 2007
GREG GROSS / Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO – A diesel engine bound for installation in a Navy ship slid off its trailer early Thursday morning, landing on at least three parked vehicles, including one in which a woman was sleeping, police said.
The woman escaped with minor injuries.
The 200-ton engine hit the ground with enough force to break through the concrete pavement and crack open a 16-inch cast-iron water main buried beneath the street in front of the National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. shipyard, the engine's ultimate destination.
The incident occurred after midnight Thursday.
The engine was being trucked down to NASSCO from the Port of San Diego along Harbor Drive aboard a large tractor-trailer rig, escorted by two other vehicles, said San Diego police Sgt. Kevin Friedman.
“They were going at a very low speed, no more than about 2 or 3 miles per hour,” Friedman said.
The convoy had just passed 28th Street, directly in front of the shipyard in Barrio Logan, when the huge engine began to slide off the trailer, ultimately coming to rest on a Dodge sedan, a Ford Aerostar and at least one other vehicle, Friedman said.
The engine compartment and front seats of the Ford van were crushed and shoved below the pavement, leaving the vehicle's rear end hanging in the air.
“The woman was in the van. She was checked out, but her injuries appeared to be pretty minor,” the sergeant said. The water main rupture flooded Harbor Drive for a distance of about 300 feet. It also cut off the water supply into the shipyard, prompting NASSCO officials to cancel their first shift of the day, affecting more than 3,000 of their roughly 6,000 employees, said NASSCO spokesman Karl Johnson.
The regular afternoon shift was to be conducted as scheduled, he said.
Shipyard officials declined any comment on the accident itself.
Lifting the engine out of the shallow crater it made in the street was expected to take several hours as work crews waited for heavy lifting equipment to be brought in. NASSCO officials had no estimate when the wreck might be cleared, which will likely require the closure of the street
San Diego police issued a traffic alert through the afternoon for Harbor Drive and 28th Street and urged drivers to take alternative routes.
Pictures at the link... not the best shots though....
Logged
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In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I stand my ground, and I won't back down"
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