South Padre Island is marking 25 years since a barge crashed into the Queen Isabella Causeway, killing eight people and sending part of the bridge into the water.

The crash happened just after 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2001. A barge struck the causeway, collapsing a section of it into the Laguna Madre.

Gustavo Morales was one of only three people who survived. He was driving home from work when his truck went over the edge.

"I remember seeing the clock on my pickup. And then 10, 15 seconds after, I was flying, going down, going into the water," Morales said.

He said he never saw the gap in the bridge. His truck plunged into the dark water. He said instinct took over in those first few seconds.

"Those few seconds that made me calm down, realizing that I was wearing my seatbelt… the pickup that I was driving had manual windows. So I was able to [undo] my seatbelt, roll down the window, and that's how I actually… get out of the pickup truck," Morales said.

He swam to the surface. In the darkness, he could hear another survivor nearby. Four fishermen eventually pulled them from the water.

Eight others did not survive.

"I was asking myself and asking — I'm a Catholic person — and I was asking God, 'Why me and not the other eight that perished?'" Morales said. 

In the days that followed, the focus turned to grief, recovery, and preventing something like this from happening again.

The Texas Department of Transportation later installed concrete dolphin piers and a fender system around the causeway, designed to protect it if another boat veers off course.

"There's a lot of resiliency, a lot of teamwork, all-hands-on-deck approach. A lot of government agencies, a lot of local municipalities, just kind of getting together," TxDOT Deputy District Engineer Rex Costley said.

The response also came from the community. James "Joe Buck" Camp and his wife helped create a memorial that still stands near the causeway today.

"Eight people lost their lives, and there are three survivors, and we needed some way to remember them," Camp said.

Camp knew several of the people who died and worked with their families to make each part of the memorial personal. One name still stands out to him.

"There was a young girl named Robin. That was the hardest. It's still hard, on me," Camp said.

Robin loved fishing offshore with her father. Above her name on the memorial, they placed a blue marlin.

"And I think I got more out of that than anything… I can't talk about it; it's hard," Camp said.

For Morales, the night has meant resiliency. He said he made himself drive across the bridge after it reopened, refusing to let that night make him afraid of the causeway.

"Every single day, every time that I get up on my bed, I give thanks. Because every new day, it's a miracle for me," Morales said.

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