Minnesota officials were warned as early as 1990 that the bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River was “structurally deficient,” yet they relied on patchwork repairs and stepped-up inspections that unraveled amid a thunderous plunge of concrete and automobiles.
Area hospitals may have seen the last of the injured survivors. Rescue teams said most of the injured were brought in within an hour of the collapse. Dozens of worried relatives are searching for the missing.
One of the most horrifying images from the bridge collapse may have been the sight of a yellow school bus stranded on a section of the bridge. Dozens of Minneapolis school children were returning from a field trip when the bridge fell.
Search-and-rescue units from across the metro area reacted swiftly to the scene. They provided fire, paramedic and water rescue to help with the scene.
The morning after an interstate bridge
collapsed into the Mississippi River, authorities lowered the
number of confirmed fatalities to four, but said they expect the
number to change throughout the day.