Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Recovery divers return to Mississippi River Friday
By Jake Grovum
Minnesota Daily (U. Minnesota)
08/06/2007

(U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS — Recovery crews are back in the tumultuous waters of the Mississippi River Friday.

Divers began searching for cars and remains amongst the rubble of what was once the Interstate 35W Bridge at 10:35 this morning, Hennepin County Sherriff Richard Stanek said.

Diving operations were suspended in the afternoon while NTSB continued its investigation of the collapse site. Diving resumed in the late afternoon and will continue until 8 p.m. Friday, Stanek said.

Stanek said diving operations Friday are going much better than previously expected and as of 7 a.m. Friday operations were "still progressing and very active."

Divers are now concentrating their efforts upstream of the collapsed bridge. They have located eight cars in the search and have cleared six of them with no victims found. Two vehicles have been located that cannot be reached by divers.

One of the unreachable vehicles is submerged and was crushed by another vehicle. Authorities said reaching that vehicle will require heavy equipment and will take some time.

The other vehicle is located under debris from the collapse and authorities said they plan to attempt to move the vehicle soon with equipment they have on site.

Stanek said there are three sonar hits north of the collapse site divers are still working to identify.

Authorities said the license plates have been identified on all vehicles that have been located by the divers.

Stanek said the debris still hanging from the east bank of the river bluffs is very unstable and moving.

"(It's) really putting the fear in you about what might happen," Stanek said.

Captain Bill Chandler said the divers "did not visibly see or touch any human remains" Friday.

Chandler said the weather may be a concern over the weekend. He said barring strong winds or lightning diving will continue on as planned.

Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Baker confirmed the fifth and latest death to be announced in connection with the bridge collapse earlier Friday.

Friday night, the fifth fatality was identified as Paul Eickstadt, 51, of Mounds View, by Baker. The other four identified fatalities are Julia Anne Blackhawk, 32, of Savage, Sherry Engebretsen, 60, of Shoreview, Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis, Patrick Holmes 36, of Mounds View.

In a statement, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed there are no victims in area hospitals who remain unidentified.

Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said while all victims who were brought to hospitals have been identified and the search for the "several people" who remain missing is ongoing.

"We hope we are able to recover those we believe are there," Dolan said.

Dolan skirted questions about total casualty numbers but hinted that the loss of life could have been much severe.

"Right now I'm not very confident of a low number," he said. "With a little bit of bad luck it could have been much, much more serious."

In a separate briefing Mark Rosenker, Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the organization has four sets of video footage from the Army Corps of Engineers and plans to create a digital model to analyze the bridge. He said the NTSB will conduct a thorough investigation but also considers opening the river a top priority.

He said investigators are focusing on the south end of the bridge because they believe it behaved differently

"As the bridge began to fall, it shifted," Rosenker said. "I am not saying that the 50 foot shift created the fall. "What we believe is that whatever created the failure, we ultimately saw a 50 foot shift." Rosenker said the investigation will be a long and comprehensive, full of various digital scenarios.

"It could be 1,000 before we get to the right one, it could be five."

-Tiffany Clements contributed to this report

[ Back to Student Voices ]