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Container Ship Bumps Bay Bridge Tower

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[November 08, 2007]  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A container ship traveling through dense fog Wednesday bumped into a tower supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge but appeared not to have structurally damaged the span, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The ship, leaving from Oakland, struck a tower about 8:30 a.m. The vessel reported damage to its front left side, and fuel was leaking, according to a statement from the Coast Guard, which responded to the incident.

The ship later anchored north of Treasure Island. The Coast Guard and San Francisco Police Department enforced a 100-foot safety zone around the ship and fuel. The California Department of Transportation was assessing the bridge.

Coast Guard pollution and marine inspectors conducted investigations into the amount of bulk fuel spilled, and an Army Corps of Engineers crew collected large wooden chunks from the bridge fender system that broke off into the water.

Traffic on the bridge was not affected, authorities said.

The Bay Bridge is actually two bridges connecting San Francisco to the East Bay. The tower hit Wednesday is part of the western span; the eastern span partially collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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