Tasman Bridge Disaster

On January 5, 1975 the bulk carrier Lake Illawarra strayed from the navigation channel on the Derwent River in Hobart,  Australia.  The resulting collision with the Tasman bridge caused two piers of the bridge to collapse.  Four cars fell into the river whose five occupants died.  Seven crew members on the Lake Illawarra died from the falling debris. Additional information available here.

The occupants of the two cars left on the edge of the remaining portion of the bridge escaped unharmed. Therein lies an interesting story of just how close one of those cars came to falling into the river.  It was saved by it transmission catching on the edge- read about that here.