Forgotten Divers Recall It      

   Forty years ago, May 9, 1980, a freighter in fog slammed into support columns of the Skyway bridge in Tampa Bay...by the sea.   


   Robert Faioa, 33, former Marine, and Michael Betz, 26, former Navy underwater photographer, then underwater bridge inspectors for the Dept. of Transportation, had stopped for coffee on their way to work. They were scheduled to work under the bridge that morning when a call changed everything.  

   They loaded their Boston Whaler and sped to the channel. Through rain and fog they saw the freighter and a 1200-foot gap where bridge and traffic should have been. 

   High above the water a car was parked a few feet from nothingness. An Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team and St. Petersburg Fire Rescue workers were already there. After some disagreement, Eckerd divers agreed to tie up while Raioa and Betz dove for a Greyhound bus. Maybe some were alive in an air pocket. 

   The bus was upside down, its top and windshield ripped off. Passengers were upside down in their seats. The men took turns swimming into the bus to free bodies one by one. 

   Betz didn't look at their faces, but Raioa, the Marine, had seen death before. When the Eckerd boat was full, they motored to a makeshift morgue. 
Before the divers could finish, the Coast Guard told them to leave. The Marine felt deprived of his duty.  

   Their recent interview is a relatively new story among many that morning. Few people knew they were there, but the county Sheriff's Office lists them as the first two divers to go in.  

   A truck, six cars and the bus fell 150 feet that day. Thirty five people died. 

                 Jimmy