On Monday afternoon, a tanker collided into the number four tower of the Bay Bridges. The tanker, an empty one called the Overseas Reymar, was moving north out of the Bay when it sideswiped a tower on thew far east side of the bridge's western span. The incident happened at around 11:15 a.m.

As for the bridge, the fender was crumpled, but no structural damages affected the span. Unlike the infamous 2007 Cosco Busan incident, which resulted in 50,000 gallons of oil soiling the bay and tens of thousands of wildlife deaths, no fuel leaked from the tanker.

The Chronicle has more about the cause of yesterday's crash:

On Monday, it wasn't clear what caused the Overseas Reymar to swipe the easternmost tower of the bridge's western span, but pilot error is being considered. The 751-foot-long, 105-foot-wide tanker scraped the bridge, but no oil spilled, emergency officials said. The fender around the bridge tower was crushed, but there was no structural damage to the span.

Alexia Retallack, the spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response, said it was exactly the type of emergency that state oil spill prevention workers have been training for since the Cosco Busan disaster.

The difference between the Cosco Busan and the latest strike, Retallack said, "was the speed of communication and the closing of loops."

A press conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. today. We'll update as soon as we know more.