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The Times former chairman and CEO was a reporter when he got the call on May 9, 1980 to cover the Sunshine Skyway Bridge for the then St. Petersburg Times.
On May 9, 1980, a freighter struck the bridge, killing 35 people in one of the worst disasters in Tampa Bay history.
Bruce Atkins was 32 years old, an experienced mariner, and an apprentice harbor pilot in Tampa Bay. It was his last training mission, and he was shadowing…
The Summit Venture freighter ship crashed into the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay on May 9, 1980. It happened during a storm.
May 9, 1980, was the day a storm blinded the freighter ship, Summit Venture as it crashed into the columns of where the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge stood.