PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Investigators have released a report accusing a drawbridge operator of ignoring warning lights and shutting off an emergency buzzer in a incident that nearly led to tragedy over the Piscataqua River last month.

The gate operator, who should have been checking the bridge position, was relaxing in a recliner instead and the other operator overrode the gate controls, allowing traffic through even though the bridge was still up, the report says.

A van and a pickup truck nearly fell into the river after getting the green light on May 20 on the bridge that leads into Maine.

The report by the state attorney general’s office also found that the two employees got together shortly after realizing their mistake and came up with a story to explain away their actions.

The two employees have since been fired, and the motorists, who are both from Maine, have indicated they will sue the state.

The report says two fishing boats asked for the bridge operator to raise the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge. A gate operator on the New Hampshire side gave the bridge operator an all-clear, and the bridge went up.

That was the first mistake. The gate worker should have been at the Kittery, Maine, side of the bridge before he did that, the report says. Instead, he went back into the operator’s office and sat down.

After the boats passed, the bridge operator, thinking the bridge was down, overrode the gate controls that kept traffic from coming onto the bridge. As he did that, the report said, the operator didn’t acknowledge several indicators, warning lights and gauges all showing the bridge was up.

He also shut off a warning buzzer alerting him that the bridge was up, the report said.

While all this was happening, the gate worker was on the second floor of the operator’s office reclining in a chair.

“At the last moment,” the report said, the drivers “noticed that the bridge was not down [and] quickly brought their vehicles to a stop.”

Realizing he had made a mistake, the bridge operator lowered the traffic gates, brought the bridge down and then raised the gates again, allowing traffic to pass. He also apologized to the two drivers.

The two men then came up with an excuse to try to protect themselves, the report said. The gate operator told officials he was not at his post on the Maine side of the bridge because he was in the bathroom.