Ducks rally to make playoffs; Down East opens postseason Wednesday hosting Myrtle Beach
BUIES CREEK (MILB.COM) – What seemed unlikely a few months ago and unlikely at best just a few weeks ago became a reality Monday for the W…
Twin Peaks Restaurant in Jacksonville suffers fire harm
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — A fire at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Jacksonville caused $75,000 worth of harm to the building, according to…
High speed pursue finishes in Tarboro with crash, flying debris
Very first Alert Forecast: “Irma” goes to Puerto Rico Wednesday; cold front approaches NC
Trump expected to end program for youthfull immigrants
Weather
Current Conditions
- Feels Like: 86° F
- Wind: SSW 7
- Humidity: 43%
- Dewpoint: 61° F
- Sunrise: 6:44 AM
- Sunset: 7:32 PM
Sports
Featured:
Latest Headlines
Ducks rally to make playoffs; Down East opens postseason Wednesday hosting Myrtle Beach
BUIES CREEK (MILB.COM) – What seemed unlikely a few months ago and unlikely at best just a few weeks ago became a reality Monday for the W…
Ex-Rampant Powell scores in Clemson victory
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) – Kelly Bryant passed for two hundred thirty six yards and a touchdown and ran for seventy seven more yards in his very first game as Clemson’s kicking off qua…
JMU blasts Pirates in season opener
ECU falls to JMU in home opener, 34-14
Pirates plucky rainy conditions for the very first home ECU football game and tailgate
On Your Side
Featured:
Latest Headlines
High speed pursue finishes in Tarboro with crash, flying debris
SCOTLAND NECK, N.C. (WNCT) — A high-speed pursue involving a driver who at one point hit speeds of one hundred fifteen miles per hour while eluding police en…
One man arrested in Uptown Greenville shooting
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – Greenville Police say one person has been arrested following an early Sunday morning shooting in Uptown Greenville…
Three arrested, one still dreamed, in Beaufort Co. home invasion
Duplin Co. creates four fresh K-8 schools
Four arrested in Duplin Co. after deputies find 1.Five kilos of suspected cocaine
Greenville driver dies after tractor-trailer goes over side of CBBT
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Greenville man who was driving a tractor-trailer that went over the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) Thursday afternoon has died.
CBBT spokesman Tom Anderson confirmed the driver died when he was on the way to the hospital.
Authorities identified the driver as 47-year-old Joseph Chen, of Greenville. Chen was hauling a fountain of seafood for Evans Transports, which is based out of Washington, North Carolina.
The tractor-trailer went into the water on the southbound side of the CBBT at mile marker fifteen around 12:30 p.m. Navy spokesman Cmdr. Dave Hecht said a team with HSE two out of Norfolk was in the area training when police called for help. That team responded in an MH-60 Sierra and pulled the driver out of the water. WAVY’s Erin Kelly tweeted that officials said the driver was standing on top of the vehicle before he was lifted into the helicopter.
Courtesy of WAVY
CBBT officials tweeted Thursday afternoon that the bridge was closed on both sides due to an incident. Both sides of the bridge-tunnel were reopened before two p.m.
Bridge officials issued Level two wind confinements Thursday, with winds exceeding forty seven mph. There was a Level one confinement at the time of the accident.
Under a Level two confinement, tractor-trailers must be hauling a gross payload of 30,000 pounds, in addition to the weight of the equipment.
Super Doppler ten Meteorologist Ashley Baylor says the water temperature was forty five degrees Thursday with a wave height inbetween five and seven feet.
Dale Bennett, president and CEO of the Virginia Trucking Association, issued this statement:
We take safety very gravely. It is certainly a tragedy any time we lose someone. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family, friends, and fellow employees of the victim.”
WAVY News has covered previous incidents of tractor-trailers going overboard while traveling on the CBBT. The most latest accident was in January of 2016. That driver was rescued and survived.
In May 2014, a tractor-trailer went into the water after it hit a maintenance truck on the bridge; that driver died.