Delta Mariner River Pilot Captain William Collins and others from the ship said that had the lights been working properly, what the U.S. Coast Guard calls an “allision” would not have happened.
“I was looking at the pier. When I looked at the pier, what I thought was the channel span, they were not lit up, so I moved over to the one that was lit up, which I thought was the next span over,” Collins said on Friday, the last day of the hearing.
Delta Mariner Ship’s Master Captain Lloyd Patten said that while it isn’t unusual to encounter bridges with improper lighting, the lighting misled the bridge crew, even with maps and navigational equipment.
“If bridge had been lit corectly, none of us would be here today,” Patten said. “I view it as the main cause of this accident.”
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