SHINE — A search for a state worker presumed dead after a vehicle plunged off the Hood Canal Bridge on state Highway 104 is expected to continue today after an unsuccessful search Tuesday.
Cranes and other heavy equipment were expected to arrive on-site late that night, Trooper Russ Winger, State Patrol spokesman, said Tuesday.
The person is thought to be a missing state Department of Transportation employee.
Acting Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar said in an email to Department of Transportation employees that there were indications that a Department of Transportation bridge maintenance technician’s personal vehicle had breached a pedestrian cable railing on the lower deck of the Hood Canal Bridge while leaving his work shift Monday evening.
The person is not being identified “out of respect for our colleague’s family . . . until proper notifications occur,” Millar said.
“We all know our jobs involve potential danger,” he wrote.
“It’s heartbreaking when that danger becomes a reality and, in an instant, changes lives forever.”
Recovery operation
Winger has referred to the search as a recovery rather than a rescue operation.
“We have found a few possible targets using sonar and an unmanned submersible, but we haven’t gotten a target location,” Winger said.
As of late Tuesday, no sign of the vehicle had been reported.
The search began at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after reports of a car going off the side of the floating bridge.
The water in that area is 350 to 400 feet deep, he said.
The missing employee was the last person on the bridge crew to depart on Monday evening, and a welfare check at his home showed he did not return home that night, according to Petty Officer George Degner, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman in Seattle.
Normal traffic
Vehicle traffic was proceeding normally on Tuesday, Winger said, while marine traffic had been suspended.
The State Patrol, Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue, boat crews from the Seattle Coast Guard base and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from
Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles were on-site Tuesday searching the water in the Hood Canal.
Also present were representatives of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Navy.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
