As many as 20 people are feared dead after an eight-lane bridge collapsed into the Mississipi river at rush hour. Authorities in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said that nine bodies had been already discovered and several people are still missing. The search halted because darkness posed a risk to divers, will restart at daybreak. Rescue workers said they did not expect to find any more survivors. Around 50 cars and lorries were thrown into the river, injuring dozens, after the road collapsed on Wednesday evening. Many were crushed by falling shards of concrete.
The bridge was undergoing minor repairs at the time of tragedy, officials said. Early reports suggested construction workers were using a jackhammer before collapse. It was last inspected in 2006 and no significant structural problems were found, according to Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota.
The Homeland Security department said the tragedy did not appear to be related to terrorism.
A school bus carrying about 60 children had a narrow escape, remaining intact despite the destruction around it. All those on board were saved, although 10 had to be taken to hospital.
Rescue workers scrambled into the river gorge to help people off the huge chunks of concrete roadway as fire and smoke rose from the wreckage.
Ramon Houge was driving on the bridge when heard a rumbling noise, saw the ground collapse in front of him and watched cars go down into the water.
"It didn't seem like it was real," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Sarah Fahnhorst, who lives in an apartment a block away from the bridge, heard a huge thud and then "the entire building shook. It shook the ground," she told the paper.
Built in 1967, the steel-arched bridge stretched 1,906 feet across the river outside Minneapolis. It was part of the Interstate 35, one of many national highways that criss-cross the United State. The north-south route stretches from the Canadian border to the border with Mexico, passing through Minneapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Dallas.
