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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6927113.stm

Seven dead as US bridge collapses


Local Live view of bridge before collapse

Seven people have died after a motorway bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed in the evening rush hour.

At least 60 were injured when part of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis fell down at 1805 (2305 GMT) on Wednesday.

Fire Chief Jim Clack said seven had died as the structure buckled, hurling up to 50 vehicles into the water.

The US Department of Homeland Security said there was no reason to suspect the fall of the bridge, which had been undergoing repairs, was terror-related.

Mr Clack said: "At this point we have seven confirmed fatalities, and we expect that number to go up."

He added that rescuers did not expect to find any more survivors.

'Catastrophe'

The rescue operation was called off as night fell, because darkness made it too dangerous to search the water among mangled steel and submerged cars.

Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak told a news conference: "It will be a very tragic night when it is over."


Shock as bridge falls
In pictures: Bridge collapse

Traffic had been "bumper-to-bumper" at the time of the incident as only one lane was open in either direction on the eight-lane road because of the construction work on the arched bridge.

Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, told a press conference: "Obviously this is a catastrophe of historic proportions."

He added that the 40-year-old bridge was last inspected in 2006 and no significant structural problems had been found.

Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan said officials had accounted for all but one of the construction workers who had been on the bridge at the time of the collapse.

Tons of concrete crashed 64 feet (20 metres) into the water as the interstate bridge crumbled.

A freight train passing underneath was crushed as a 500ft (150m) span of steel and concrete collapsed.

'Huge roar'

Some 60 children were led to safety with only minor injuries from a school bus that clung to the edge of a collapsed section of the structure over the river.

Eyewitnesses said they heard a rumbling sound as the structure fell into the river.

Injured people waited for rescue as vehicles dangled off the crumpled concrete and smoke billowed into the sky from the fiery wreckage of a lorry.

Leone Carstens, a local resident, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper: "First I heard this huge roar.

"I was at my computer. Initially I thought: 'Wow was that an airplane?'"

Divers and rescue boats scoured the water for survivors but the operation had to be called off as night fell because of the amount of debris in the water.

Chris O'Connell, a Minneapolis reporter, told the BBC: "To call this a catastrophe would be an understatement."

Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told AFP news agency: "There are no indications of a nexus to terrorism at this time."

There’s not allot anyone can say at the moment. My thoughts go out to all those families that may have lost or badly injured people from this tragic accident.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

It is beginning to sound like it was an old-fashioned design, which was never intended for modern traffic conditions and did not really comply with modern safety requirements. It should have been replaced many years ago.

Like the "Silver (suspension) bridge" collapse, it would seem this bridge had no redundancy and had several weaknesses due to corrosion and poor welding, and possibly the development of fracture cracks, one of which would have been sufficient. It also seems that work was being carried out on the bridge at the time, so someone might have unwittingly weakened a critical component and caused the bridge to collapse.

As would seem to be the way with the Americans, they do little to prevent such problems, but after the event go crazy about it, as we have seen with the World Trade centre collapse. This has now taken us into two wars, and resulted in draconian anti-terrorist laws, widespread use of surveillance, and excessive checks at airports, to further turn this country into a police state.

seems a very strange link to make..... but ooook

(the implication on the news this morning and the implication in the photos is that roadworks were present on the deck of the bridge, looks like resurfacing to me.. rather than repairs underneath?)

That's what's also being said in the papers...Daily Telegraph

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

It's sort of a strange analogy with the USA and the UK today. The whole underlying structure is rotten. The powers that be know this but choose to just improve the visible surface not rebuild the whole. Eventually it all collapses.

It's also rather like road surface dressing.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

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Prepare to be Judged