Washington - A key Mississippi River bridge linking the twin
cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota collapsed Wednesday at
the height of the evening rush hour.
Several spans of the bridge crumbled, and scores of cars were
wrecked on the pancaked freeway pavement or submerged in the river.
The death toll reached six late Wednesday in the collapse of a
major bridge over the Mississippi in the state of Minnesota, but was
likely to rise overnight, a local official said.
Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak announced that six people were known
dead but cautioned that the death toll could rise significantly.
'We have concerns that this will be a very tragic night when it is
over,' he said.
A schoolbus carrying as many as 60 children was wrecked next to a
trailer truck that burst into flames. Reports indicated that all of
the children survived, though many suffered minor to moderate
injuries.
Kristi Rollwagen, an emergency preparedness official with the city
of Minneapolis, said that an estimated 50 vehicles were submerged in
the Mississippi. Hundreds of firefighters and other emergency workers
were at work overnight, she said.
Dr Joseph Clinton of the Hennepin County Medical Centre, one of
several hospitals near the scene, told broadcasters that his
colleagues had seen at least one drowning fatality and were treating
six people with critical injuries and at least 22 others with
injuries that did not appear life-threatening.
Most patients had blunt-force injuries including head and trunk
injuries, broken limbs and at least one penetrating chest wound,
Clinton said.
There were numerous injuries at other hospitals on both sides of
the river.
Rescue workers used boats to try to reach some parts of the bridge
and submerged vehicles, and divers were searching the river.
The burning truck spewed dark smoke over part of the disaster
scene during the first hours, as firefighters used a ladder truck to
direct hoses to douse the blazing wreckage.
Mobile telephone networks were reportedly overloaded in the hours
after the disaster, and authorities appealed for people to refrain
from making phone calls.
The local chapter of the American Red Cross appealed for blood
donations.
The Interstate 35W bridge is a central connection between the Twin
Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. Part of the massive concrete
structure over the middle of the river dropped into the water, and
other sections appeared to have fallen onto railroad tracks, streets
and electric power lines.
The collapse occurred about 6 pm (2200 GMT). Severe thunderstorms
were looming on the horizon after nightfall, threatening to
complicate overnight rescue and recovery efforts.
The steel-and-concrete bridge had carried more than 200,000
vehicles a day.
The bridge is near the University of Minnesota campus, and the
local major-league baseball team, the Minnesota Twins, started a game
at the nearby Metrodome, an indoor stadium, as scheduled about an
hour after the accident.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story