4 Bodies Found in Bridge Wreckage

Rescuers hoisted two vehicles holding four bodies out of the murky Arkansas River on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the collapse of an interstate bridge to 13.

Lightning, rain and rising waters hampered the rescuers, who picked their way through the muddy water searching for an unknown number of people still missing after an out-of-control barge hit the Interstate 40 bridge and knocked out a 500-foot section of highway.

“We’re determined because we know there’s family members out there wondering if one of their own is in here,” said Dennis Splawn, a diver with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The bodies of seven women and six men have been recovered from the waters below the bridge, said highway patrol Lt. Chris West. With the help of sonar, a crane had hoisted 10 vehicles from the mangled concrete and twisted steel.

A champion horse trainer and a police detective were among those killed, authorities said.

About 10 families of supposed victims waited at the Webbers Falls City Hall for news. About a dozen vehicles plummeted into the water Sunday morning after the barge hit.

Earlier Tuesday, an investigator said towboat crew members’ accounts support the towboat company’s contention that the pilot had blacked out.

George Black of the National Transportation Safety Board said a crewman who visited with captain Joe Dedmon five to 10 minutes before the accident said everything seemed normal.

Others who were not with the captain said they heard no alarm or change in the sound of the engine that would indicate he was trying to avoid a crash, Black said.

Dedmon, who tested negative for drugs and alcohol, was to be interviewed by NTSB investigators. His brother, Ray Dedmon of Raymond, Miss., said the captain has no medical conditions that would have caused him to pass out.

Gail Shanahan, 49, was returning to Texas with another horse trainer, Maggie Green, when their truck and a trailer hauling four horses plunged off the bridge, family members said. Searchers have pulled three horses out of the river. A former Texas Youth Rodeo champion, Shanahan trained horses for barrel racing.

Norman police Det. Wayne Martin and his wife, Susan, were heading to Arkansas for a family reunion Sunday but never arrived.

“We are pretty well resolved to the facts,” said Norman police Lt. Glenn Dobry. “It’s extremely tough.”