Pilot in oil spill admitted trouble
The pilot of a freighter that caused a huge oil spill in San Francisco Bay was confused about where he was headed and immediately regretted setting off that foggy morning, according to newly released transcripts.
“Yeah, it’s foggy; I shouldn’t have gone. It’s still, uh . . . I’m not going to do well on this one,” Capt. John Cota said minutes after the container ship Cosco Busan sideswiped a support of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Nov. 7.
“Sorry, captain, I misunderstood the chart; I thought that was the center,” Cota told the ship’s master.
Cota has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence and violating environmental laws, and declined to testify at a hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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