Man avoids Baltimore bridge disaster by minutes due to argument with girlfriend
Topics: Baltimore bridge, News, US News
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images / Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Topics: Baltimore bridge, News, US News
An argument with your partner normally isn’t a good thing, but in this case, it may have saved one man’s life.
Multiple people and vehicles fell into the Patapsco River in the early hours of Tuesday after a cargo ship collided with Baltimore's Francis Scott Key bridge.
Emergency services were quick to the scene after the bridge came down at around 1:30 am local time, shortly before it was confirmed as a 'mass casualty event'.
The Baltimore City Fire Department was on scene in a bid to locate and save those who were believed to have fallen below.
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However, one lucky man managed to avoid his car careering into the water’s below all thanks to an argument he was having with his girlfriend.
Jen Woof told The Telegraph that her son, Jayden, had crossed the bridge three times in quick succession before it had collapsed.
She told the publication her son was planning to stay overnight at his girlfriend’s home, who lives on the north side of the river.
However, after an argument, he decided to cross the bridge and go back home.
Feeling guilty for the spat, he then decided to turn his car around and head back to his partner’s place.
However, she ended up turning him away, again resulting in Jayden crossing the bridge for the third time.
He would prove to be one of the last people to do this as minutes later, the bridge collapsed.
"He was actually almost to our house when his girlfriend started texting him to ask if he was OK," Woof said.
"He thought she was texting because they were arguing, and she said the bridge had collapsed. He came into my house, frantically panicking and yelling for me and showing me a video."
A very lucky and fortune turn of events for Jayden, whose evening could have had a very different ending.
Six people are sadly presumed dead after the structure fell into the Patapsco River below, and investigations are ongoing into the devastating event.
As part of the investigation into the crash, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said officials had boarded the cargo ship - named Dali - late in the evening to gather information which could offer insight to what went wrong.
“Some investigators boarded late last night to look at the engine room, the bridge and gather any sort of electronics or documentation," Homendy said.
“Right now, we do have the data record, which is essentially the ‘black box'.
"We’ve sent that back to our lab to evaluate and begin to develop a timeline of events that led up to the strike on the bridge.”