Mississippi bridge collapses - death toll rising

UP to nine people have been reported dead, 20 missing and scores injured when a major freeway bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed and sent up to 100 cars into the water below.

The bridge was packed with early rush-hour traffic when it fell at about 6.15pm (9.15am AEST). At least three sections collapsed, with a fourth feared to follow.

Rescue officials told CNN there could be between 50 and 100 cars in the river.


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"At this point we have seven confirmed fatalities, and we expect that number to go up as well," said Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper reported at least nine people were killed in the collapse and 20 people were missing.

The paper cited state authorities who "expected the death toll to rise".

Mr Clack said more than 60 people were sent to hospitals and rescue operations in the river had been halted due to darkness.

"There's too much debris in the river to continue in the river tonight," he said.

Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak earlier warned people to brace for a "tragic night".

Dr Joseph Clifton of the Hennepin County Medical Centre said the hospital had taken in 22 injured people so far - six of them in a critical condition.

One man was dead on arrival, after having drowned. Many of the injured had internal wounds and more patients and deaths were expected, Dr Clifton said.

"Most were blunt-type injuries, in the face and extremities," he said.

A freight train was also passing under the bridge when it collapsed and was cut in two, WCCO television reported.

Aerial footage of the tragedy showed cars and other vehicles strewn across the collapsed bridge and one truck erupting in flames near a yellow school bus.

Cars hung over the edge of the collapsed bridge, trucks were cut in two and other vehicles lay precariously on collapsed sections of the structure, footage showed.

Local hospitals were put on alert, but it was unclear how many people were injured.

"I can't tell you how many people we've got, they're still coming in," said an official in the emergency department at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Divers were in the water under the bridge searching for victims and survivors.

'The worst thing I ever saw'

Witnesses said they heard a rumbling sound as the bridge collapsed into the river.

"First I heard this huge roar," Leone Carstens, a nearby resident, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"I was at my computer. Initially I thought, Wow was that an airplane?"

29-year-old Andy Scwich arrived at the scene a few minutes after the collapse.

"I saw them carrying up a body – I don't know if he was alive or dead," he said.

"It was the worst thing I ever saw."

Melissa Hughes, a new mother with a three-month-old child, was in a car on the bridge during the collapse.

“I was pretty much freaking out and sitting in the car with my foot as hard as it could go on the brake,” Ms Hughes said on Fox News.

“I thought: ‘oh my God, what do we do?’

After she was helped from her car, she saw at least one male victim seriously hurt during the accident.

“I saw him screaming in pain. After it happened and I found out he had gotten out of the car during the accident and that’s how he got hurt so bad.”

Another witness said she saw people swimming in the river trying to get to shore.

Ramon Houge of St Paul was driving on the bridge when he heard a rumbling noise and saw the ground collapse, he told The Star Tribune.

He said cars backed up as best they could when the bridge buckled. Mr Houge turned around in a construction zone and was able to drive to safety, he said.

“It didn’t seem like it was real,” he said.

'Not a terrorist attack'

The US Department of Homeland Security in Washington said there was no indication of terrorism in the disaster. Police said the cause was still unknown.

The 160m steel arch bridge was built in 1967 and carried up to 200,000 vehicles per day. Workers had been repairing the bridge's surface when it collapsed.

In a report released in May 2006, transport department inspectors had seen fatigue cracks and bending of girders that lift the approaching span, local media said