Table of Contents.
The Collapse Of The Tjörn
Bridge, Sweden,1980.
Map of the Tjörn Bridge's
western abutment.
On January 18th, 1980, around 01:30 a.m., the Norwegian
ship Star Clipper collided with the
Tjörn Bridge (at that time
named the Almö Bridge).
The ship's cranes hit two arches in the bridge's
structure. A 278 meter long lane toppled straight
into the water. Some ended up over the ship's command bridge. However,
the crew managed to put themselves
in safety before the collapse. Seven vehicles bumped over the bridge
edges. Four from the western abutment and three from the eastern. Eight
people died. The vessel's electrical system was knocked out, which meant
that its communication equipment became obsolete. They had a pilot on
board. He had a portable VHF radio and could call for help. A lifeboat
was launched in order to reach land. This failed because it was too weak in
the icy water. They sent up flares to attract attention. This gave no
effect. The crew could see how the vehicles toppled into the water - a
fall of about 40 meters. After about 15 minutes a truck arrives at the
western abutment. The driver is driving slowly because the visibility is
impaired due to fog. He follows the bridge's railing with his gaze.
Suddenly he realizes that the bridge is gone! He is able to stop just
before the edge. He blocks all traffic on this side of the bridge. On
the eastern side it takes about 40 minutes before
two policemen arrive to make a cordon.
Star Clipper collided with the western abutment.
The arches that held up the bridge structure
fell over the ship. Some parts from the lane fell over the command
bridge.
The Maritime Safety Commission has submitted a report in April, 1981. The following conclusions are stated in the report:
"The collapse has been caused by the deterioration of the ship's maneuverability due to external disturbances in relation to the normal anticipated for the vessel. The disturbances have been mainly caused by ice clogging on the starboard side. Due to the reduced visibility and darkness, this ice accumulation has not been observed. The overall impact of the current has enhanced the influence of the ice bank.
The moderate disturbances have also shown that the margins were insufficient due to the small margins found for the maneuvering in the waterway's section.
A contributing cause of the accident is the failure to wait for daylight and / or to use a tugboat since visibility and night darkness have not allowed the opportunity to observe obstacles in the waterway such as ice.
The lack of appropriate and mandatory standards has thus given the preconditions for the accident in the light of the bridge's not known vulnerability. "
Here you can download the report: Star_Clipper_Tjorn_1980.pdf (4 MB, all in Swedish).
On June 30, 2014, Expressen writes:
After the pilot Kai Åderman was acquitted by the maritime commission, he made hundreds of pilots in the same flowing water under the new Tjörn Bridge. At each trip the ship's crew used to look at the huge concrete clumps that were the abutments of the collapsed bridge, they still stand on the banks on both sides of the Almö inlet, saying:
- Wasn't this where ...? And the pilot replied without hearing the whole question:
- Well, here it was where Star Clipper took the bridge. The follow-up questions used to be:
- What became of the pilot? Did he quit his job?
- He still pilots. He never did anything wrong, said Kai Åderman.
Never ever revealed the pilot with a single word that it was he who stood on the Command Bridge together with Fritz Tangen on that fateful January night. At one single occasion, Kai Åderman allowed an interview. It was in a radio documentary in P3 about the Tjörn Bridge disaster, broadcasted in 2009, just a few months before he died, 63 years old. The reporter, Ida Lundqvist, asked why Åderman never told anyone he was the pilot on the accident ship.
- There would be so much talk, a lot of theories to talk about. I don't think it's necessary.
Here you can download Expressen's article: Expressen_Tjornbrokatastrofen.pdf (9,4 MB, all in Swedish)
The new Tjörn Bridge. As you can see, it's of a completely different construction compared to
the old one. Photo: Google.
YouTube video: Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water