Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

FBI to aid in recovery efforts at bridge collapse site
By Jake Grovum
Minnesota Daily (U. Minnesota)
08/06/2007

(U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office returned to the murky waters of the Mississippi River once again Monday along with the FBI's underwater search and evidence recovery team.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said operations that have been underway since Thursday morning remain ongoing and the FBI and the Navy, once their operations begin, will serve to supplement recovery efforts.

There is no timeline for when the Navy will begin operations, Stanek said.

Stanek reinforced that the number one mission of diver operations remains recovery of any victims that may still be at the collapse site. He confirmed that there are still eight people missing.

FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe said 13 divers from dive teams in New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. are in Minneapolis and are currently working with the Sheriff's office.

The FBI dive teams bring with them technology such as a radial scan sonar and a remote operated vehicle which McCabe described as a "mini unmanned submarine." The vehicle has sonar, lights, a camera, and a grabbing arm which will be used to investigate the collapse site.

The radial scan sonar gives authorities a real-time visual of the debris underwater and will allow authorities to guide divers to various underwater targets and to avoid debris, McCabe said.

The FBI also brings with it a 360-degree laser scan that allows authorities to get a full image of the collapse site that remains underwater.

Reports have been circulating that authorities will soon begin removal of large portions of the debris field and Stanek said he expects this to being "fairly soon."

Once this begins, authorities expect to encounter vehicles that may have been trapped under the bridge when it collapsed. Stanek said there is a "good possibility that there are additional vehicles under the tons ... of debris" but would not speculate as to how many may be there.

This is not the first time the FBI's underwater search and evidence recovery team has been deployed in Minnesota. The team was sent in the wake of the Dru Sjodin murder to search and have also assisted in operations in Iraq, McCabe said.

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