Federal, state and city investigators are probing the cause of a Minneapolis bridge collapse that sent dozens of vehicles into the Mississippi River and killed at least seven people. Officials expect the death toll to rise.
``Something went wrong, and we're going to get to the bottom of it,'' Minneapolis Fire Chief James Clack said during a televised news conference yesterday. Nine people were confirmed dead late yesterday, with 60 injured and 20 missing, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper reported without saying where it got the information.
The I-35W bridge, an eight-lane structure near the University of Minnesota and the Metrodome, buckled during the early evening rush hour. The cause was unknown. The bridge was undergoing repairs at the time, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said during a briefing.
At least seven people were killed, and the death toll is expected to rise, Clack said. Hundreds of rescue teams, including divers, searched the river, he said. The operation was called off shortly before midnight.
``We have concerns that this will be a very tragic night when this is over,'' Mayor R.T. Rybak said yesterday.
The bridge collapsed atop a freight train that was running on tracks along the river, according to Cable News Network. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there were no indications terrorism played a role in the collapse.
Fifty Vehicles
Survivors were brought to the riverbank and transported to area hospitals, Minnesota State Patrol spokesman Steve Johnson said. Clack said there were an estimated 50 vehicles on the bridge when three of its four sections gave way. He didn't have an estimate for the number of vehicles that were submerged.
All except one of the construction workers were accounted for, Police Chief Tim Dolan said during a news conference.
The bridge, built in 1967, was inspected in 2005 and 2006 and no structural defects were found, Pawlenty said. MSNBC, citing the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said 200,000 vehicles crossed daily.
A March 2001 study by the state's transportation agency found that approach spans ``have exhibited several fatigue problems, primarily due to unanticipated out-of-plane distortion of the girders. Concern about fatigue cracking in the deck truss is heightened by a lack of redundancy in the main truss system.''
The agency recommended that the deck be replaced by 2020 or beyond, Pawlenty said. Several projects were under way on the structure, including concrete replacement, guardrail and lighting repairs and work on the joints, he said.
Low Rumble
South Minneapolis resident Xavier Sose said he was standing in the doorway on his balcony yesterday, when he heard and felt a low rumble. He looked toward the bridge and saw two piles of dust shoot out at either end.
``The next thing you know, the entire center section of the bridge just vanished,'' he said in a phone interview. ``Cars were sliding down and everything was covered in dust.''
A school bus carrying about 60 children was on the bridge. As many as 10 were brought to hospitals and the rest released to their families, Ted Canova of the American Red Cross said. He put out a call for blood donors and financial donations.
The Hennepin County Medical Center received one drowning victim, six others with serious injuries and 22 more with non- critical injuries, Joseph Clinton, chief of emergency medicine, said in a televised news conference.
Four patients had undergone surgery as of 9:45 p.m. local time yesterday for abdominal and head injuries, Clinton said.
``It looks like the scene at the bridge is largely a recovery operation at this time,'' he said.
