Canadian at the wheel of truck that hit Skagit River Bridge

MOUNT VERNON (NEWS1130) – The Washington State Patrol has confirmed that an Edmonton-area trucker was at the wheel of a semi that struck a bridge on a busy interstate highway, sending part of the span thundering into a river below.

The patrol says William Scott, 41, of Spruce Grove, was hauling a large load last night and hit a girder of the bridge over the Skagit River on the I-5, between Burlington and Mount Vernon.

Sergeant Kirk Rudeen says Scott was heading south with a large steel casing for a drilling rig when the right front corner of the load struck a support girder.

Scott’s wife, Cynthia, says her husband was taking all the necessary precautions.

She spoke with him just seconds after he saw the interstate bridge fall into a river in his rear-view mirror and says all of the needed permits were in place and a special vehicle called a pole car had travelled the route beforehand to make sure the load would fit.

Rudeen says the collision appears to have led to the collapse of the span just seconds later and two vehicles plunged into the cold swift-flowing river. He adds Scott made it off the bridge and remained at the scene to speak to investigators.

Cynthia Scott says there was a small ding in one of the front corners of the load and she wonders if the bridge was already falling apart as the truck was going across.

Amazingly, only three people were hurt, none of them seriously, and there were no fatalities. Search efforts were called off overnight.

This morning, at least two vehicles and a trailer are still caught in a twisted section of the bridge, which is right down in the water. The break on the bridge is clean; it was sheared off from the highway and collapsed right down into the water.

The US National Transportation Safety Board will be at the scene today to begin the investigation.

The I-5 between Burlington and Mount Vernon is completely closed.

Traffic-wise, this is going be a very busy weekend in the area. On a typical day, an estimated 70,000 cars used the bridge. However this is a Memorial Day weekend in the US, and there is also a very large concert, Sasquatch, at The Gorge in Quincy.

Detour information via KOMO News

Traffic is being diverted off southbound I-5 at Exit 230. For an alternate route, take eastbound Highway 20, then south on S. Burlington Blvd. and west on E. College Way (SR 538) to southbound I-5.

Northbound I-5 traffic must exit at Exit 227. An alternate route is east to E. College Way to northbound Riverside Drive-S. Burlington Boulevard, then west on George Hopper Road to I-5.

To use SR 9 as an alternate northbound route, bypassing Mount Vernon, take Exit 221 at SR 534 east to northbound SR 9 to SR 20 westbound to I-5.

Officials are urging drivers to avoid the area if possible.

Quick thinking may have saved the life of a US navy sailor and his wife

Dan Sligh was heading south on the I-5 with his wife for a Memorial Day long weekend camping trip when suddenly, everything came crashing down around them.

Sligh says the bridge disappeared in a “big puff of dust.”

“Forward momentum just carried us right over.. As you saw the water approaching, you hold on as tight as you can… just a white flash and cold water,” he describes.

Sligh acted quickly after it happened, popping his shoulder back into place and scrambling to unbuckle his wife. He then dragged her to saftey in the frigid water.

“You talk miracles… I don’t know what you call it… when you’re sitting down in the water and there’s all that mangled metal and bridge and you’re looking around, kind of pinching yourself and realizing you’re lucky to be alive… it’s a pretty amazing day, to tell you the truth,” he says.