More bodies expected after Miami bridge collapse
POLICE investigating the collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Miami have said they expect to find more bodies in the rubble, as investigators work to determine why the new structure failed.
Six deaths have already been confirmed and Miami-Dade Police director Juan Perez told reporters he expects additional victims to be found as the massive concrete structure is removed.
Mr Perez said the main priority is getting to the victims in crushed vehicles under the rubble as quickly as possible.
Authorities said one victim is confirmed to have been a student at nearby Florida International University. No identities of those killed have been released.
Authorities said the cables suspending a pedestrian bridge were being tightened after a “stress test” when the 950-ton concrete span collapsed on to a busy highway on Thursday afternoon, days after its installation was celebrated as a technological innovation.
As state and federal investigators worked to determine how and why the five-day-old span failed, Florida politicians pointed to the stress test and loosened cables as possible factors, but Mr Perez asked people not to jump to conclusions.
“This is a tragedy that we don’t want to reoccur anywhere in the United States,” he said. “We just want to find out what caused this collapse to occur and people to die.”
First responders had spent hours racing to find survivors in the rubble of the 175ft span using hi-tech listening devices, trained sniffing dogs and search cameras.
The $14.2m pedestrian bridge was supposed to open in 2019 as a safe way to cross six lanes of traffic between the Florida International University campus and the community of Sweetwater, where many students live.