Footbridge collapses onto busy highway, crushes 8 vehicles

MIAMI — A pedestrian bridge that was under construction collapsed onto a busy Miami highway Thursday, crushing at least eight vehicles under massive slabs of concrete and steel and killing multiple people, authorities said.

Search-and-rescue crews drilled holes into the debris and used dogs to look for survivors. They had to work carefully because part of the structure was still unsafe. At least 10 people were taken to hospitals. The number of fatalities was not immediately known.

The 950-ton (860-metric ton) bridge had been assembled by the side of the highway and moved into place Saturday to great fanfare. The span stretched almost 200 feet (60 meters) to connect Florida International University with the city of Sweetwater. It was expected to open to foot traffic next year.

“We have a national tragedy on our hands,” Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said.

Jacob Miller, a senior at FIU, was visiting a friend in a dorm when he heard sirens and horns honking. He went to a balcony and could see rubble coming down.

“I saw there were multiple cars crushed under the bridge. It was just terrible. I saw some people stopping their cars, trying to get out, trying to assess the situation to see if there is anything they could do to help,” he said.

National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt III said a team of specialists was heading to Miami on Thursday night with plans to begin its investigation Friday morning. Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he was headed there as well.

Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said his department’s homicide team would take over the investi- gation after rescue efforts are complete.

The exact death toll was unclear. Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Alejandro Camacho told CBS News that there were “several fatalities.” Carlie Waibel, a spokeswoman for Sen. Bill Nelson, said local officials told Nelson that people had died, but a final number had not been confirmed.

An accelerated construction method was supposed to reduce risks to workers and pedestrians and minimize traffic disruption, the university said.

Renderings showed a tall, off-center tower with cables attached to the walkway to support it. When the bridge collapsed, the main tower had not yet been installed, and it was unclear what the builders were using as temporary supports.

Robert Bea, a professor of engineering and construction management at the University of California, Berkeley, said it was too early to know exactly what happened, but the decision to use what the bridge builders called an “innovative installation” was risky, especially because the bridge spanned a heavily traveled thoroughfare.

“Innovations take a design firm into an area where they don’t have applicable experience, and then we have another unexpected failure on our hands,” Bea said after re- viewing the bridge’s design and photos of the collapse.

Sweetwater police Detective Juan Llera was in a nearby meeting when the bridge collapsed.

“I heard a ‘boom’ like a bomb had exploded,” he said. “At first I thought it was a terrorist attack.”

He said he saw three construction workers who had been injured. One had a head injury and was passing in and out of consciousness, another one had a leg injury leg and the third was lying on the street unconscious. He started performing CPR on him.

“We were able to keep him alive to send him to the hospital,” Llera said.