Slow search expected for Minnesota bridge victims

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 3 (Reuters) Divers suspended their search for victims hidden in the swirling, murky waters of the Mississippi River at sunset in what authorities said would be a slow and dangerous recovery operation after the worst US bridge collapse in more than 20 years.

Working carefully in fast-flowing eddies created by crumpled steel and concrete, divers with only a foot of visibility had located some of the vehicles that were hurled into the river when the 40-year-old bridge gave way during Wednesday's evening rush hour in Minneapolis.

''There are more than 10 vehicles in the river,'' Fire Chief Jim Clack said, without saying if there were victims inside.

Four people were confirmed dead and authorities said eight were still missing, down from as many as 30 earlier, indicating the death toll was certain to rise from the unexplained collapse of the 500-foot span. The underwater search will resume today.

More than 50 vehicles plunged 65 feet into the river and onto debris from Interstate 35W as the eight-lane bridge collapsed in a plume of dust, smoke and screams.

Dozens more people were hurt, many suffering broken bones, head and spinal injuries.

''People were pinned. People were partly crushed, talking to rescue workers ... telling them to tell their families goodbye'' before they died, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said.

Cory Swingen, 32, watched the disaster unfold from a tour boat. ''I heard a loud rumbling sound, like a semi (trailer truck) running into a concrete wall ... the whole collapse took about 10 to 15 seconds,'' he said.

When the dust cleared Swingen was relieved to see dazed people sitting or walking on the collapsed roadway.

''These are horrible images but within each of those images is a story,'' Minneapolis Mayor R T Rybak said. ''That car you see tangled in the wreckage is someone's cousin, brother or husband. ... Thank God this wasn't worse.'' Federal authorities quickly ruled out terrorism as a cause, but state and federal safety officials said inspections of the heavily traveled bridge had not shown that it was unsafe.

Nevertheless, US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters called on all states to immediately inspect similar steel truss bridges, of which the agency said there are 756 nationwide. A few governors already ordered all their states' bridges inspected.

President George W Bush scheduled a trip to Minneapolis tomorrow to survey the scene.

AGING BRIDGES Department of Transportation data on the nation's nearly 600,000 bridges showed roughly one-quarter were considered ''structurally deficient and functionally obsolete'' in 2005.

Bridges are one segment of the nation's aging infrastructure that need hugely expensive repairs, engineers say.

The I-35W bridge had passed inspections the past two years, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said, though it was among thousands of bridges deemed ''structurally deficient'' in 2005.

''(The rating) was by no means an indication that the bridge was not safe,'' Transportation Secretary Peters said.

She said it was the first time since 1983 that a bridge had collapsed without an outside trigger, such as an earthquake or collision. That year, three people were killed in Connecticut in a bridge collapse on Interstate 95, the major US East Coast highway.

Specifically, the collapse in Minneapolis raised questions about work being done to patch and resurface the bridge.

The contractor on the project said state engineers were closely supervising the work that included pouring a fresh layer of concrete on the deck.

Mike McGray, owner of Progressive Contracting Co, said he had ''no idea'' what may have caused the bridge to give way. One of his workers was missing and presumed dead.

San Francisco-based engineering and construction company URS Corp said it had issued a draft report in 2006 that recommended the bridge be retrofitted ''to eliminate the possibility of member fracture.'' Investigators planned to rebuild the bridge piece by piece off-site to figure out what had happened, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker said.

City officials said the search and subsequent clean-up would take at least several days. Searchers used sonar and engineers lowered the river level to aid the effort.

REUTERS AK BST0728