Interstate Bridge Collapses Into Mississippi River in Minneapolis

Department of Homeland Security officials said they have ruled out terrorism as a cause. Pawlenty said that the bridge had been inspected in 2005 and 2006 and that "no immediate or noted structural problems" were found.

Reports issued by the Minnesota Department of Transportation over the past decade have detailed problems with the bridge. In 1997, the department noted problems with the approach spans on both ends, including "cracks . . . in the cross girder at the end of the approach spans." In a 2001 report, department engineers said that the bridge's deck truss "has not experienced fatigue cracking, but it has many poor fatigue details on the main truss and floor truss system."

But that report concluded that the bridge "should not have any problems with fatigue cracking in the foreseeable future." As a result, they wrote, the department "does not need to prematurely replace this bridge because of fatigue cracking, avoiding the high costs associated with such a large project."

Jay Danz, 45, of St. Paul told the Star Tribune that he was driving to the Minnesota Twins baseball game on a parkway beneath the structure when he heard the bridge "creaking and making all sorts of noise it shouldn't make."

"And then the bridge just started to fall apart," he said.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board traveled to Minneapolis last night to determine why the bridge collapsed, Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said. About 140,000 vehicles a day pass over the bridge, which connects two sides of Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. It is near the city's business district and the University of Minnesota.

"It's obviously a catastrophic collapse," Rosenker said, adding that he had no details about why the accident occurred. "We are calling in bridge experts from across the country."

Emergency service officials from as far away as 40 miles arrived on the scene. Racing against an approaching lightning storm and growing darkness, city officials dispatched boats and half a dozen dive teams in a frantic rescue effort.

Rescuers scrambled up and down the riverbanks, moving amid half-submerged cars and SUVs in the shadow of dangling concrete and blacktop overhead, their shouts punctuated by the cries of bloodied survivors. In deeper water, divers launched themselves into open car windows, looking for victims. Rescuers helped motorists stranded in their cars inside a V-shaped gorge created by buckled roadway.

Broken north and south sections of the bridge stood almost vertical, bordered by twisted green girders, the roadbed's bottom edges resting on the wide riverbank. Rescuers helped motorists stranded in their cars inside a V-shaped gorge created by buckled roadway.

As late as 9:30 p.m., rescuers were still trying to search caverns of stacked concrete for victims, said Kristi Rollwagen, Minnesota director of emergency preparedness.

About 60 children, ages 5 to 14, were in the school bus, which was returning from a day camp. They were among the first to be removed from the scene and sent to hospitals and shelters. Courtney Johnson of the American Red Cross said most of the children appeared not to be seriously hurt.

"It looked like a terrorist attack," Ryan Murphey, 30, of Minneapolis told the Star Tribune. "But everyone there was very calm and organized." Murphey said he helped carry stretchers holding two victims from the east riverbank, including a middle-aged woman with a blood-smeared face.

Emergency vehicles backed up several deep near the broken highway edge, where cars teetered. Traffic had been moving about 20 mph when the bridge's light poles trembled, witnesses said, and a low rumble built into the roar of the collapse.

At the Holiday Inn Metrodome, within sight of the collapse, half a dozen police chaplains and Red Cross workers assembled to meet with family members or others seeking victims or survivors as huge banks of searchlights illuminated the scene of the collapse.

Concerned Minnesotans jammed cellphone lines, looking for news and the whereabouts of loved ones. Announcers told the crowd at the nearby Twins game of the collapse shortly after 7 p.m. local time, but officials decided to continue the game after a moment of prayer to help prevent more traffic from pouring into the chaotic scene.

Kimball is a special correspondent. Williamson reported from Washington. Staff writers Tim Page in Minneapolis and Del Quentin Wilber and Seth Hamblin in Washington contributed to this report.