At least six people died after a newly-erected foot overbridge collapsed at Florida International University on Thursday.
At least eight vehicles were trapped under the bridge, and 10 people have been hospitalised, officials said, according to Reuters. “We’re working our way into the pile trying to create holes that we can actually physically see,” Miami-Dade Fire Department Division Chief Paul Estopian told reporters.
The 174-feet, 950-tonne bridge was built last week in just six hours over an eight-lane highway. It was supposed to make it safer for university students to cross the highway to the city of Sweetwater.
“If anybody has done anything wrong, we will hold them accountable,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said. His office added that the company that was contracted to inspect the bridge was not qualified by the state.
The bridge, built at a cost of $14.2 million (over Rs 90 crore), was designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and to last 100 years, the university said.
“It was going to be a significant project. It was going to be one of a kind,” Senator Marco Rubio told The Washington Post. “The victims and their families deserve to know what went wrong. There will be an extraordinary review into what the errors were and what led to this catastrophic collapse.”
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