Manatee County, Fla. (WFLA) – Today it’s 45 years since Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapsed and killed 35 people.
8 Alessandra Young on your side spoke with the diver who had entered the water that day and recovered some of the victims.
May 9, 1980, will forever become a part of history.
Bob Raiola and his partner Mike performed an underwater inspection of Dot and the county bridge.
“Twenty-eight people died from the shock of dull force trauma and seven have owned,” Bob Raiola said.
They got a call saying no one was ready and then they headed out for a cup of coffee.
“At the time, there were no procedures or anything for that type of disaster. There were no glass cases on the walls of the office that said Smash, just in case the Skyway was knocked down,” Laiola said.
Laiola said the 19,734-ton summit venture cargo ship was caught in a severe microburst and lost all radar contact. When the cargo ship hit the bridge, the impact took out more than 1,200 feet of the entire south side.
The diver said he got there as soon as possible.
“We finally got ready and rolled into the water, then rolled into the water, and turned backwards. I quickly found the bus driver. Mike Curtin was behind the wheels and he was wearing a white shirt, so he was very noticeable.
Diver said the bus driver was the first victim he saw and was able to recover. His partner, Mike, stepped on the water outside the bus to retrieve the victim.
“I placed the microphone outside the bus, went to the bus myself, recovered a few casualties, then handed them over to the microphone.
After recovering the four casualties, Laiola returned for the second time and recovered three more times, creating a total of seven.
“In the meantime I came across something called a baby bag. I was a little more emotional about what we were trying to achieve,” Laiola said.
As a Vietnamese combat veteran, Laiola said he was used to trauma, but this was different.
To this day, he talks about it or relives this experience every time he crosses the Skyway.
“I said soft prayers for everyone who handled. I apologised for the rough treatment I was trying to give them. I need to extract them from the situation,” Laiola said.
45 years from now, Laiola wants people to know that the new bridge is safe and that the pier is protected to prevent another tragedy like this from happening.
