Major Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota... Many Injuries/Deaths Feared

hey fellow minnesotan, im south a few miles, and my bro lives up there. yeah this ones going down in history.. no deaths so far i guess.

Was it a commuter train or a freight train? I really hope it was freight, but I'm having a hard time telling from the images they are showing.

Nice to meet you. I guess unfortunatly 3 dead now, 15 injured.

From what I hear from FOX News, there's already one confirmed death. I fear that there may be many more.

No freight train involved at all with this.

I have it on now and I am not getting anything like you are. No one and I reapeat no one has indicated the amount of cars you are talking about other then 8 that is. I have heard one death several injuries but I am sure fatalities will rise but no where near what you are implying.

Since this is ATS I'll be the first to ask.

Have there been any UFO and flying humanoid sightings there? Aka Mothmen?

Something about this reminds me of John Keel's Mothman Prophecies.

[edit on 1/8/07 by MikeboydUS]

anybody else thinking of the Mothman Movie??

CNN now stating 3 dead, between 15 and 100 cars on bridge when collapsed. Cause unclear according to police.

Darkness moving in and thunder and lightning.

This just gets worse.

At least all schoolkids on bus got off ok.

I want to see the people responsible for maintenance hung for neglect or shaudy work. Were they illegal immigrants repairing the bridge??

This whole state needs a better money management system. Like stop pumping money into parks and crap, and fix the damn roads 3 times a summer! I drive daily, If i die because some stupid builder couldnt do his job, hes fricken haunted for eternity. I mean poltergeist stuff.

maybe it was planned to be a distraction event. Lets all go see what else is happening in the world.

german television is reporting much more than 3 deaths actually... death-toll is rising steadily

yes first thing..

wcco.com live hometown footage.

[edit on 1-8-2007 by mastermind77]

It isn't visible in a lot of the shots they are showing, but it appears that part of the bridge has, in fact, crushed at least part of one railroad car. Thay aren't saying or showing much of it, so hopefully it was just freight.

lol guys compare the BBC & CNN coverage right now. for some reason this looks very odd, just as if they were showing different sites / parts of the collapse... any ideas why that's the case?

and why the hell did this bridge collapse on both sides??? even though there is a big basement between both parts?!?! i've never seen something like that before... as if explosions...... ^^

edit again: one eyewitness says he heard a very loud sound before the bridge came down...

[edit on 1-8-2007 by EBE154]

[edit on 1-8-2007 by EBE154]

[edit on 1-8-2007 by EBE154]

First of all, I highly doubt this is a terrorist attack. Unless there is another bridge down tonight.

Mothman! Yes, that was the first thing I thought of. Especially once I heard about the schoolbus and all these coincidences.

I read the book too and spoke with a girl once from Texas who claimed she witnessed it once.

Interesting.

I am not saying it is terrorism, but they were just resurfacing the bridge structure. Local news has been talking with structural engineers and people from MN-DOT, and they are saying the bridge had been inspected recently, and no problems where found. And, according to Don Shelby (WCCO) he talked with someone who says that for this to happen, the center would have been the first thing to collapse.

Like I said, I am not yelling terrorism, but Laura Bush and the RNC where in town checking out the preperations for the 2008 Republican National Convention. Like Mr. Nooray, I don't believe in coincidences.

I was 2 hours from driving that bridge.

Whatever the issue with the bridge was, let all of our thoughts and prayers rest with those who were injured or killed. They have a lot more problems then us here on ATS, arguing about the cause. Seems so petty.

A few things, one side of the bridge fell onto a freight train sitting in what appears to be a train yard below - it looks like its loaded with coal or gravel. The bridge structure was a very flimsy looking steel frame type supporting a 6-lane (!) concrete road surface. At least two of the lanes were closed for construction at the time.

My crappy analysis:
The steel supports that run vertically from the concrete to the road surface appear perfectly intact (well except they don't connect to the footings anymore.) The road surface is almost mostly intact which accounts for high survival rate. It seems the transverse structures of the bridge failed. The result was that the bridge didn't just fall directly into the water but instead slide off to the side a bit and fell.

Jon

Just turned BBC on, looks a lot more graphic, freightrain carriage definately trapped underneath a collapsed section.
Fears that another section may collapse, fires still burning and liquid of some sort leaking into river.
1 Policeman states he has seen at least 7 bodies.

CNN just reported at least 7 deaths. Bad weather is rolling in now on the scene which they say will hamper relief efforts...

I have to say that yesterday there was a bridge collapse in California here is the news report:

www.timesheraldonline.com...

Wonder if there is an correlation?

LOL!!! Heavy rain is coming down just right now... Schoolbus/Rain => Mothman?!