Features

Bizarre accident in San Francisco tunnel 

SAN FRANCISCO – Two anti-war demonstrators who were involved in a bizarre traffic accident in the Broadway Tunnel on Saturday were in critical and unstable condition Sunday at San Francisco General Hospital. 

According to San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Barry Wong, a man and woman were riding in a converted school bus to Saturday’s anti-war demonstration when the accident occurred around 11 a.m.. 

The full-size school bus has the body of a Volkswagen van welded to its roof, which Wong said adds about six feet to the vehicle’s overall height.  

The man and woman were riding with their heads and bodies sticking out through the van’s sunroof when it passed through the tunnel heading eastbound on Broadway. 

“It’s an extremely tall vehicle,’’ Wong said. 

The tunnel is taller at one end than it is at the other, Wong said, and as the vehicle approached the North Beach end both the man and the woman clipped the roof of the tunnel with their heads. Both victims were knocked back inside the vehicle, he said.  

“They were standing up in the tunnel and didn’t know about the change in height,’’ he said. 

The bus driver pulled over in front of a nearby fire station where firefighters extricated the victims, Wong said. Both were taken to San Francisco General Hospital where they are listed in critical condition, he said. 

Man arrested in boat incident 

SAN FRANCISCO – A man has been arrested in connection with the presumed death of a man who was thrown off a party boat in San Francisco Bay, police said. 

Witnesses told police they saw someone being thrown overboard at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Police Inspector Sergio Chin. About 275 people were aboard the ship for a Halloween party. 

Police arrested the suspect when the boat, the Royal Prince, returned to the pier, said Sgt. Neville Gittens. The unidentified man was being held Sunday on suspicion of murder, he said. 

The U.S. Coast Guard used helicopters and a cutter to search throughout the night, but hadn’t found anything by mid-afternoon Sunday, a Coast Guard spokesman said. 

Investigators boarded the boat at Pier 43 1/2 to interview witnesses. Chin said it was unclear what role alcohol may have played in the attack. The victim’s girlfriend and several friends were on the boat with him, Chin said.