Difficult Conditions Hamper River Search

As the divers searched in vain for more victims, Mark V. Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters that investigators are focusing on the southern end of the 1,907-foot-long steel truss bridge, which opened to traffic in 1967. A security camera that captured the collapse showed that the southern section "seemed to behave differently in the video and in the final way that it sat after the collapse," Rosenker said.

"It appears that it shifted approximately 50 feet to the east," he said, while "the rest of the bridge appears to have collapsed in place." He said investigators would analyze design factors that could account for such a shift. He said they believe that the shift occurred as the bridge was falling, not that it caused the collapse.

In Washington, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters requested that her department's inspector general investigate the agency responsible for inspecting highway bridges. The inquiry will focus on the Federal Highway Administration's inspection program and ways to improve the agency's oversight of more than 70,000 bridges that have been found structurally deficient. The Minneapolis bridge was found structurally deficient in 1990.

Amy Harris, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Hospital Association, said 98 people were treated at 10 hospitals after the collapse, and 28 remained hospitalized Friday night. The Hennepin County Medical Center, where the most severely injured victims have been treated, reported that five patients were in critical condition and eight were listed as "satisfactory."

Some family members have lost hope that their missing loved ones would be found alive, facing a sobering reality Friday as the slow, deliberate recovery operation continued.

"Yesterday, there was some anxiety -- some fear, but some hope," said Alan Brankline of the American Red Cross, a specialist in disaster mental health who has been comforting family members at a hotel near the river. "Now, there's a mood that's a little different. There's distress," he said, as well as anger and denial.

"Many of the families are believing this is still a surreal nightmare, an event that they can't comprehend emotionally," Brankline said.

In a visit to the disaster scene Friday, first lady Laura Bush also found the destruction difficult to grasp.

"Unbelievable," she murmured as Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Rob Allen showed her the site from a hill beside the collapsed bridge. He pointed out a yellow school bus that had been packed with children returning from an outing at a water park and that now sat jammed against a guardrail at the edge of a fallen concrete slab. The 61 people on board survived a drop of at least 40 feet and made their way off the bridge to safety.

"If you ever need proof of the hand of God, just look where that bus is," Allen told the first lady. Referring to the immediate rescue efforts by first responders and concerned citizens, he added: "There were lots of acts of bravery out there."

President Bush is scheduled to visit Saturday.

Among the missing may be a 24-year-old Somali immigrant, Sadiya Sahal of St. Paul, and her 20-month daughter, Hana, who was in a car seat in the back of Sahal's white Toyota Highlander, according to friends. Since the collapse, no one has heard from Sahal, who was several months pregnant, friends said.

Branigin reported from Washington. Staff writer Michael E. Ruane in Minneapolis contributed to this report.