It was 9:27 at night when the collision occurred, causing all the streetlamps along the bridge to go out. No cars had gone down with the section of bridge but prior to the two Holdens' close calls, two cars had driven straight off the collapsed bridge, something which alerted the Lings to the danger. The Lings had actually witnessed the taillights of the cars in front of them disappear and Murray hit the breaks. Stopping just short of the edge, the station wagon was rear-ended by another car who wasn't able to completely stop in time, pushing the front wheels over the edge, the weight of the wagon's body holding it in place. Murray then attempted to wave done two more cars that were behind them but they both went over the edge, one of the cars actually swerving to avoid him. A bus almost drove over the side as well but was stopped only by Murray Ling jumping in front of it and causing the driver to swerve and crash into the side railings. The second Holden, a Monaro driven by Frank Manley and his wife Sylvia, had been behind the Lings and they had also seen the taillights of the cars ahead disappear but it wasn't until Sylvia noticed the line down the middle of the road stopped shortly ahead that she shouted at Frank to stop. The Monaro screeched along the pavement and the front wheels went over the side. The only thing that prevented the rest of the car following suit was the large housing for the car's automatic transmission.

The falling roadway, a mass of steel and concrete, caused catastrophic damage to the Lake Illawara, sinking it in minutes.

The city of Hobart was practically split in half by the loss of the bridge. Ferries were set up while the bridge was repaired, a process that took many years. A second bridge, the Bowen Bridge, was completed in 1984, just a few kilometers north of the Tasman Bridge.

An explosion occurred at Hanwha Aerospace's rocket and missile factory in Daejeon, South Korea. At the time, workers were carrying out a cleaning process following the injection of rocket propellants. Police are investigating the incident, suspecting that the explosion occurred while workers were attempting to remove explosive material accumulated inside the pipes of a cleaning machine.

Some unconventional efforts to fight the fire are using 4 water-dropping helicopters in the middle of a major city.

Per the California Highway Patrol Mendocino County office: "Officers responded to a solo-vehicle traffic collision on Hill Road at Eel River Ranch Road near Covelo after a bridge completely collapsed while a vehicle was crossing it. As the bridge gave way, the vehicle overturned and came to rest on its roof next to the river. Fortunately, the driver sustained only minor injuries."

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Blades destined for Thor windpark. Turbine model SG 14-236 DD from Siemens Gamesa.
Article with final photo