Gallery: Historical photos of the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge (2024)

FAQs

Were all the bodies recovered from the Silver Bridge collapse? ›

Officially named the Point Pleasant Bridge, it was popularly known as the Silver Bridge for the color of its aluminum paint. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed amid heavy rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people, two of whom were never found.

On December 15, 1967, 46 people died as the bridge that connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed.

Thirty-one vehicles plunged into the icy waters of the Ohio River. Twenty-one people survived, but 46 died in the disaster. The Silver Bridge tragedy led to national changes in how bridges were inspected.

On April 6, 1971, the Safety Board finally issued its determination of the cause of the collapse—“a cleavage fracture in the lower limb of the eye of eyebar 330 at joint C13N of the north eyebar suspension chain in the Ohio side span.

Cervantes Suarez and his colleagues, who were assigned to fix potholes on the bridge, were on break before the collapse. Cervantes Suarez told NBC News that he managed to survive by rolling down the window of his truck.

The deadliest bridge collapse was in 1809, when the Ponte das Barcas bridge in Porto, Portugal, collapsed, leading to the deaths of at least 4,000 people. The Ponte das Barcas bridge collapsed due to the unique way it was designed, using wooden boats that connected together to create a bridge.

As a result of these efforts, a new bridge across the Ohio River at Point Pleasant was completed and opened exactly two years after the disaster. The new bridge was named the "Silver Memorial Bridge" and continues to serve Point Pleasant today.

Some say the creature is either bad luck or causing these disasters in some way, but others speculate Mothman may be able to see into the future, and that the monster appears to warn people of impending doom.

Point Pleasant

Kanauga

What bridge is in the Mothman prophecy? ›

Rumor has it that, just before the December 15, 1967, collapse of the US Highway 35 Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a 7-foot-tall monster with large, piercing red eyes and huge, mothlike wings was seen lurking nearby, warning of the impending catastrophe.

Parts of the 1.6-mile, four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, collapsed into the Patapsco River after it was struck by a large cargo ship Tuesday morning.

Had the eyebars been more thoroughly inspected on a regular basis, the collapse may have been prevented.

On Friday, December 15, 1967, at about 5 p.m., the bridge spanning the Ohio River at Point Pleasant collapsed.

On Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia with Gallipolis and Kanauga, Ohio, collapsed into the freezing Ohio River during rush hour, killing 46 people and injuring at least eight people. The collapse became the deadliest bridge disaster in modern history.

Cervantes Suarez, the only person to survive the fall into the water, was in his truck when the bridge went down. After his truck slammed into the river, Cervantes Suarez said the water “came up to my neck” and he was unable to open the doors to escape.

Construction worker Julio Cervantes was one of the two men to survive the bridge collapse, his wife told NBC News. She said it's a miracle her husband survived; he was rescued from the Patapsco River and does not know how to swim. “All of the men were on a break in their cars when the boat hit.

Bennett, Leo Blackman, Kristye and Margaret Boggs, Hilda Byus, Kimberley Byus, Kathy Byus, Melvin Cantrell, Thomas Cantrell, Donna Jean Casey, Cecil Counts, Horace Cremeans, Harold Cundiff, Alonzo Darst, Alma Duff, James Hawkins, Bobby Head, Forrest Higley, Alva Lane, Thomas Lee, G.H.