Bridge collapse

[Amber]

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- Dozens of relatives waited for word of their loved ones Thursday as authorities tried to recover bodies lodged in the wreckage of a Minneapolis bridge.

As many as 50 vehicles are trapped in the rubble or in the river after the eight-lane interstate bridge collapsed during Minneapolis' evening rush hour Wednesday. Twenty to 30 people were missing, Minneapolis police Chief Tim Dolan said.

Four people were confirmed dead, and officials said at least 79 people were injured when the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River buckled.

Jessica Engebretsen, waiting near the bridge for news of her mother, asked people to pray for the missing.

Her sister, Anne, struggled to hold back the tears as she described her mom, Sherry Engebretsen, as "a fighter."

"She'll make it, she's a strong woman, she's gonna come back home," Anne told CNN. Video Watch family try to stay positive while awaiting word on woman's fate »

Other relatives of the missing gathered at a hotel to await word from officials.

"I've never wanted to see my brother so much in my life," Kristi Foster told The Associated Press. She hadn't heard from her brother Kirk or his girlfriend since the collapse.

"We know of several people who were pinned or trapped" that have died, Dolan said.

"There's an individual case where an individual was severely injured and was talking to a medical personnel and was able to say his goodbyes to his family [before] he passed on," Dolan told a news conference.

The water below the collapsed bridge is about 7 to 8 feet deep -- just covering the roofs of the dozens of cars that are in the water, Dolan said. Watch bridge fall in four seconds Video

Dolan said he believes there may be 20 vehicles in the water that the workers cannot even see.

The bridge fell 60 feet, about six stories, into the river.

Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek said conditions in the Mississippi River were treacherous for divers, as the twisted steel and blocks of pavement were pushed around by river currents. He said the search could go on for five days or longer.

The Hennepin County medical examiner on Thursday morning said the confirmed death toll was four, lower than the seven to nine deaths reported earlier.

President Bush on Thursday pledged federal aid to rebuild the bridge. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said $5 million was being made available immediately to pay for traffic flow adjustments and debris removal.

Investigators will try to reassemble the bridge to determine what caused the collapse, said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Security camera video showed the Interstate 35W bridge's center section collapsing into the river in less than four seconds. The northern end of the span appeared to drop first and the southern end followed. Witnesses describe the chaotic scene »

CNN obtained the video from a source who asked to remain unidentified because they were not authorized to distribute it publicly.

Gary Babineau was driving his truck across the bridge as it fell.

"I could see the whole bridge as it was going down and as I was falling, and it just gave a rumble real quick, and it all just gave way, and it just fell completely all the way to the ground," Babineau said. Photo See photos of the disaster »

"This particular section or freeway was under repair," Minneapolis fire Chief Jim Clack said. "We don't know yet what caused the collapse."

A school bus filled with more than 50 children who were returning from a summer field trip was among the vehicles on the bridge when it collapsed.

Tony Wagner, the president of a local nonprofit social services group that organized the trip, said eight of the kids, ages 5 to 14, were hospitalized.

Mark Lacroix, who lives on the 20th floor of an apartment building near the bridge, told CNN he saw the last seconds of the collapse.

"I heard this massive rumbling and shaking ... and looked out my window," Lacroix said. "It just fell right into the river."

According to the Minneapolis Riverfront District Web site, the steel arch bridge was opened in 1967. Its longest span stretches 458 feet over the river, and it was constructed with no mid-river piers to facilitate river traffic.

The bridge was undergoing nonstructural re-decking work, U.S. Transportation Department spokesman Brian Turmail said.

A 2001 study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation found "several fatigue problems" in the bridge's approach spans and "poor fatigue details" on the main truss.

The study suggested that the design of bridge's main truss could cause a collapse if one of two support planes were to become cracked, although it allowed that a collapse might not occur in that event. But, the study concluded, "fatigue cracking of the deck truss is not likely" and "replacement of the bridge ... may be deferred."

Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory database said the bridge was "structurally deficient."
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The bridge received a rating of 4 on a scale of 0 to 9. A bridge receives a rating of 4 when there is "advanced section loss, deterioration."

About 140,000 cars a day travel over the bridge, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

I live really near where that bridge collapsed. My family and I heard it on the way back from a horse show. I felt the need to post the story up here.

[Tom Flapwell]

The victims and their families and friends all have my prayer.

[Angstwolf]

My dad told me about this late last night.

Sad stuff.

[Comrade K]

Strange how it just happened like that.

[Amber]

Yeah. It's so sad. Luckily I don't know anybody who got caught in it.
One of my sister's friends was calling everybody she knew to make sure they were okay.

[gforce422]

I hate it when stuff like this happens...

[Arloest]

Talk about every driver's nightmare-come-true... anytime I'm driving over a big bridge or overpass I always idly wonder how bad it would be if the road just suddenly collapsed. Well, this is how bad it is.

[Tabris_The_17th]

The victims and their families and friends all have my prayer.

Mine as well.

[Amber]

People already knew that this bridge could collapse, and needed repairs. Why does it take a huge disaster to get people to fix things?

[Tom Flapwell]

Because people are lazy, distractable, and loath to think about the worst possibilities.

[gforce422]

Because people are lazy, distractable, and loath to think about the worst possibilities.

Newton comes to mind...

"An object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force."

[Rooster]

Strange how it just happened like that.

Yeah, cuz usually when a bridge falls down it takes months...but yeah, it is sad

[Comrade K]

Strange how it just happened like that.

Yeah, cuz usually when a bridge falls down it takes months...but yeah, it is sad

Lol, I meant the lack of indicators that it was about to collapse, how it just decided to give way without any prior warning.

Though it seems at this point that there may have been prior warnings, they just weren't heeded.

[Tom Flapwell]

Most any big disaster had unheeded warnings.

[Angstwolf]

This reminds me of the Silver Bridge collapse back in 1967.