
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990                   TAG: 9006210313
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

DIVERS SEARCH CHESAPEAKE FOR DRIVER

Navy and Coast Guard divers, helicopters and boats searched Wednesday for a missing truck driver apparently thrown from his cab in an accident that closed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Bridge officials said two tractor-trailers collided head-on at 11:55 p.m. Tuesday about one mile north of the Virginia Beach toll plaza.

A southbound tractor-trailer apparently crossed the center line and slammed head-on into the northbound truck. The southbound truck took out 150 feet of guard rail before coming to rest with its trailer sinking into the bay and its cab on the bridge. Traffic at both ends of the 17.6-mile span connecting Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore was immediately halted.

A bridge spokeswoman identified the missing driver as Samuel E. Bryant, 48, of Chesapeake.

- Associated Press

by CNB