One Killed as Draw Bridge Rises in Fog

The center draw span on the world’s longest floating bridge inadvertently went up as a routine maintenance test was under way during the foggy morning commute Friday, causing a seven-car accident that left one person dead and six others injured, authorities said.

The 100-foot-long movable section of the concrete Evergreen Point Floating Bridge rose 4 1/2 feet in the thick fog without warning to motorists, and the seven cars smashed into the raised span, authorities said.

A 43-year-old woman died on the milelong bridge, which spans Lake Washington between Seattle and Bellevue, a Washington State Patrol spokesman said.

“I saw one of the cars up on the drawbridge and I saw steam coming up from the hood and I figured at that point that it had radiator trouble, but then I saw the bridge continue to rise and I got four blankets out of my car and ran up to see what I could do,” said motorist John MacQuigg, 43, of Seattle.

He said he tried saving the 43-year-old woman, administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

It was unclear what caused the span to go up or whether the maintenance tests contributed to its sudden rise. Transportation Department officials said they did not believe human error was involved, but they did not elaborate.