Bridge collapses in US, seven dead

dirtydog

dirtydog

dirtydog

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Seven dead as US bridge collapses


Seven people have died after a freeway bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed in the evening rush hour.

At least 60 were injured when part of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis fell down at 1805 (2305 GMT) on Wednesday.

Fire Chief Jim Clack told reporters seven died as the structure buckled, hurling up to 50 vehicles in the water.

The US Department of Homeland Security said there was no reason to suspect the fall of the bridge, which had been undergoing repairs, was terror-related.

Mr Clack said: "At this point we have seven confirmed fatalities, and we expect that number to go up."

He added that rescuers did not expect to find any more survivors.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6927113.stm

Looks very nasty. I wonder what made the bridge collapse? It was apparently last inspected in 2006 and deemed safe.
 
Does make you wonder if it was jst a coincidence it was undergoing repairs.. you have to feel sorry for the ones that didn't make it though, a harsh and pointless way to go :(
 
Heard this on the news this morning, very tragic.

The US Department of Homeland Security said there was no reason to suspect the collapse of the bridge, which had been undergoing repairs, was terror-related.
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Orwellian overtones aside - it really irks me that every accident under the sun refers to terrorism, one way or another, these days.
 
platypus said:
Heard this on the news this morning, very tragic.

Orwellian overtones aside - it really irks me that every accident under the sun refers to terrorism, one way or another, these days.
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More so in America than other places.

I was talking to a friend from the US the other day, and I was saying how I was going to see the Harry Potter queue in Picadilly before I went for drinks but couldn't be bothered in the end.

He came up with, "I hear you - a queue like that would be a good terror target."

I told him I was fed up with Americans talking about terror. It's so boring.
 
Geordie_Boy said:
How on gods earth do these things happen. If that was inspected properlly nothing like that would have happened.
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Would you like to elaborate?

KaHn
 
Until we see an official report, you have no proof whatsoever to indicate that the bridge wasn't properly inspected, or maintained.
 
platypus said:
Well you might be right, but until we know what happened, speculating isn't going to help matters ;)
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See the speculating instantly puts blame on the inspection officer/engineer, it could be due to heat transfered through key members during the construction work, it could be due to a change in the ground state, but until we see an official report we just don't know.

KaHn
 
KaHn said:
See the speculating instantly puts blame on the inspection officer/engineer
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Thats what I was thinking - I'd imagine the guy that signed it off as ok is feeling pretty awful right now.
 
looks nasty , like something out a disaster movie :(
ap_collapse2_070801_ssh.jpg
ap_collapse17_070801_ssv.jpg
 
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