Cargo Ship With Drunk Russian Captain Crashes Into Bridge: Report

Officials told the Yonhap News Agency that the 6,000-ton Seagrand vessel hit the side of the Gwangan Bridge in Busan, pictured above. Google Street View

An apparently inebriated Russian captain crashed a cargo ship into a South Korean bridge, videos and photos show.

Officials told the Yonhap News Agency that the 6,000-ton Seagrand vessel hit the side of the Gwangan Bridge in Busan at around 4:20 p.m before turning around and going the opposite direction.

Authorities confirmed that the captain of the ship was drunk, Yonhap reported.

The crash caused damage to the bi-level bridge, said the Korean Coast Guard, adding that no injuries were reported.

An eyewitness video filmed from a distance shows the ship moving slowly toward the bridge as cars pass by.

The crash smashed a small portion of the Seagrand’s front section and appeared to create a hole in the structure of the bridge.

A deckhand was also seen running away as a tower collapsed on the front of the ship.

Traffic then began to slow on the lower part of the bridge as drivers realized what happened. Portions of the bridge were closed off in the wake of the incident, the agency said.

The Coast Guard was able to stop the ship and question the ship’s crew, adding that the Russian captain had a blood alcohol content of 0.086 percent, while the legal limit is 0.03 percent.

“A KCG official said consuming alcohol aboard a vessel isn’t punishable by law as long as the person doesn’t steer the ship,” Yonhap reported, adding that it isn’t clear if the captain was at the helm of the ship during the crash.

Officials said they are also trying to determine where the ship was supposed to be heading.

According to Yonhap, the vessel also hit a cruise ship moored at the same port about 40 minutes before crashing into the bridge.

The port service had contacted the ship to warn about a possible collision, but the captain “poorly understood English,” reported Russian news outlet RBC.

A total of 1,400 tons of pipes were being carried by the cargo vessel. The ship’s crew was able to unload the pipes at the port in the morning, RBC also reported.

Other details about the accident are not clear.

Russian TV Lists US Cities for Nuclear Attack

In another strange incident, Russian state TV listed potential targets in the United States if nuclear war broke out, claiming that new Russian missiles could reach American cities in only a matter of minutes.

According to the Reuters news agency, which called the reports “unusual even by the sometimes bellicose standards of Russian state TV,” it was broadcast on Sunday, Feb. 24.

The targets included the Pentagon building in Washington, as well as Camp David, the longtime presidential retreat in Maryland.

Putin has stated that he won’t be the first to deploy hypersonic, intermediate-range missiles in Europe but warned that it’s on the table if the United States places similar missiles on the European continent.

According to the report, Fort Ritchie in Maryland, the McClellan military base in California, and the Jim Creek Naval Radio Station in Washington state were also listed on maps for a potential nuclear strike.