Search for missing in Minneapolis bridge collapse

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 2 (Reuters) Rescuers searched today for as many as 30 people unaccounted for in a US highway bridge collapse that sent vehicles tumbling into the Mississippi River in a deadly avalanche of concrete and steel, police said.

Minnesota Gov Tim Pawlenty told CNN the death toll from yesterday evening's collapse was now confirmed at four, after being reported as high as nine. About 60 people were injured.

Federal investigators were on their way to probe the cause.

Pawlenty said the bridge in central Minneapolis was among tens of thousands across the United States found ''structurally deficient'' but said it had passed recent inspections.

''There's no question that the fatality number will go up,'' Pawlenty said earlier on NBC's ''Today'' show.

''And we know there are a number of cars in the water that we haven't been able to get to and they've been there submerged since last evening,'' he said.

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said that based on the number of vehicles thought to be on the Interstate 35W bridge at the time, there were 20 to 30 people unaccounted for, and more bodies were likely to be recovered.

As many as 60 vehicles were traveling on the 40-year-old steel-truss bridge when it buckled without warning during rush hour.

Witnesses recalled people screaming, ''We're going into the water.'' ''There are cars in the water. A dozen cars are visible. We don't know what's underneath. We haven't removed anything from the river. We're are treating it like a crime scene,'' a police official said.

Several workers who had been doing resurfacing work that closed some of the span's eight lanes were among those plunged into the river when the bridge fell some five stories into the river.

''I heard a low rumble and saw two shoots of concrete dust shoot out each side of the bridge,'' Xavier Sose told CNN. ''Next thing you know I hear another rumble, complete silence.

''And then I just see the bridge disappear in front of me. I was dumbfounded.'' POOR MARKS Pawlenty said a US Transportation Department report in 2005 designated the bridge as structurally deficient and likely in need of replacement.

On a scale of zero to nine, with zero meaning ''failed,'' the bridge's superstructure was rated at four, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.

Pawlenty said the bridge had passed inspections in 2005 and 2006 and was not slated for replacement until 2020.

He said the US Army Corps of Engineers would use barges to remove debris from the now-closed section of the river, a vital commercial artery in the country's midsection.

Investigators are looking at whether bridge construction played any role, but Minneapolis Mayor R T Rybak said it was too early to pinpoint a cause.

Some of the injured were pulled from half-submerged vehicles and some swam to safety.

Several motorists were critically injured, suffering broken bones, and head, neck and spinal injuries, a hospital emergency room physician said.

A school bus carrying mostly children landed on its tires, and the 59 children and adults on board scrambled out the back exit, bloodied and bruised.

''There was smoke and noise. Everybody was screaming,'' said one girl who had been on the bus.

Between 100,000 and 200,000 vehicles pass over the bridge on a given day.

REUTERS PD HS1937