An eight-lane highway bridge in Minneapolis collapsed last night, hurling cars and trucks into the Mississippi River, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 60.
Some vehicles were crushed under giant concrete slabs, while others plunged into the river when the 40-year-old bridge suddenly buckled.
“This is a catastrophe of historic proportions, said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the disaster was not a terror attack.
Some 50 vehicles plummeted into the water or to the ground when the bridge cracked into pieces. Eight cars and a truck were quickly submerged.
Jamie Winegar, of Houston, was sitting in traffic when, all of a sudden, she started hearing, “Boom! Boom! Boom! and we were just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping.”
The Interstate-35W Bridge had been undergoing repairs when it began to crumble at 6:05 p.m. local time.
Witnesses heard a thunderous sound and felt the bridge tremble just before it crumbled.
“First, I heard this huge roar,” Leone Carstens told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Initially, I thought, ‘Wow, was that an airplane?’ ”
A school bus and a burning truck clung to one slanted slab.
The bus, packed with children, was coming back from a field trip. The 60 kids on the bus – ages 8 to 12 – exited through the rear door. Some suffered minor injuries.
Drivers on the bridge also fled for their lives.
“It didn’t seem like it was real,” said Ramon Houge, who was on his way home to St. Paul when the disaster happened.
While other cars began to back up, he drove to a construction zone for safety and eventually was able to turn around and drive off the bridge.
It could have been much worse.
Traffic was heavy, partly because of a night game at the nearby Metrodome, where the Minnesota Twins were playing a night game.
On the bridge, the traffic was limited to two lanes due to the repairs and was moving bumper-to-bumper when the collapse began.
Officials, who feared the death toll could rise, were stunned by the enormity of the disaster on a bridge that carries hundreds of thousands of vehicles each day.
“This is a very busy bridge,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). “It’s just a mile from my home. It’s near the Metrodome, near the heart of the city.”
Rescuers called off the search after nightfall made it too dangerous to search the waters.
“We think there are several more vehicles in the river we can’t see yet,” said Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack.
A team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators is expected to arrive in Minneapolis this morning.
Dozens of rescue vehicles rushed to the scene and divers searched the murky waters for survivors. Three Sheriff’s Department boats were dispatched to help with the search.
The Coast Guard closed the river in the area.
Witnesses saw people swimming in the water. Hospital officials said at least one person drowned.
At least five of the injured victims were in critical condition at overwhelmed local hospitals.
“I can’t tell you how many people we’ve got – they’re still coming in,” said an official in the emergency department at the Hennepin County Medical Center.
Among the injured were victims who were crushed by falling debris.
“Most were blunt-type injuries in the face and extremities,” Dr. Joseph Clifton said, adding that many victims had suffered internal injuries.
Part of the span fell onto railway tracks and a service road. A freight train was passing under the bridge when falling debris cut it in two.
Hours after the collapse, huge chunks of the bridge remained stuck at odd angles jutting out of the river, in places surrounded by cars half-submerged in the water.
Rescue workers began to evacuate the area because of fears that more of the 500-foot steel-arch bridge would collapse.
Area residents said the collapse made homes shudder.
“The entire building shook,” Sarah Farnhorst said of her apartment building a block away. “It shook the ground.”
The bridge’s surface was being repaired as part of a $288 million rehab project – one of the largest road construction jobs in state history.
The bridge was last inspected in 2006. No structural defects were found at the time.
“It was given a clean bill of health,” Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) told CNN. “We have to find out why [this happened]. This is absolutely incomprehensible.”
A 2001 evaluation of the bridge, prepared by the University of Minnesota, reported that there were preliminary signs of fatigue on the steel truss section under the roadway, but no cracking.
The report said there was no need for the Minnesota Transportation Department to replace the bridge because of fatigue cracking.
But a May 2006 report by the department noted that inspectors saw fatigue cracks and bending of girders along the span’s approaches.
The bridge was notable for not having any piers in the water. Instead, the main support piers were located on the banks of the river, and built of tube-shaped concrete pillars. This allowed for a wide, clear span, making river navigation easier. With Post Wire Services