The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Six dead after pedestrian bridge collapses in Miami
TRAGEDY: Hopes of finding survivors in the wreckage are fading fast
At least six people have died after a pedestrian bridge collapsed on to a busy road in Miami.
Authorities said vehicles were crushed beneath massive slabs of concrete and steel in the incident on Thursday in which at least 10 people were taken to hospital.
Search and rescue crews worked through the night, using dogs, search cameras and sensitive listening devices in a frantic bid to find survivors among the debris.
“Everybody is working hard to make sure we rescue anyone who can be rescued,” said Florida governor Rick Scott.
Miami-Dade police director Juan Perez said hopes were dwindling as the hours passed.
“We know that there’s going to be a negative outcome at the end of the day,” Mr Perez said.
The 14.2 million dollar bridge crossed over a busy seven-lane road that divided a Florida International University campus from the city of Sweetwater.
The 950-ton span was installed on Saturday to great fanfare. It had not been opened when it collapsed on to vehicles waiting in traffic below, but two workers were on it.
Is was put to a stress test before it collapsed, and state and federal investigators are working to determine if that was a factor.
Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that the cables that suspended the bridge had loosened and the engineering firm ordered that they be tightened. “They were being tightened when it collapsed,” he said.
The main part of the 174ft span was assembled by the side of the road and had to be moved into place.
The “accelerated bridge construction” method was supposed to reduce risks to workers and pedestrians and minimise traffic disruption, the university said.
Miami-Dade County fire chief Dave Downey said: “We have to remove some of this piece by piece. It’s very unstable.”
Mr Scott and Mr Rubio attended a briefing on the incident. Mr Rubio said the public and the families of the dead and injured deserve to know “what went wrong”.
He added that an investigation will get to the bottom of “why this happened and what happened”. He said that if anyone did anything wrong “we will hold them accountable”.