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CNN Newsroom
Minnesota Bridge Collapse
Aired August 02, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, bringing you the very latest on our breaking story, the Minneapolis bridge collapse, as it happened, amazing, exclusive video of the bridge coming down. The person who provided it to CNN did not want to be identified.
Bridge collapse, a tragic scene still unfolding this hour in Minneapolis. Concrete slabs, twisted metal, crushed cars. Here is what we know right now.
The recovery resumed just a short time ago. Search efforts in the water were called off overnight. The death toll has been lowered to four. Again, the death toll has been lowered to four at this point.
That is according to the medical examiner. But that final number, as I'm sure you understand, could change as divers now begin searching the river once again this morning.
More than 60 people were injured when the interstate I-35W, that bridge gave way during an evening rush hour. As many as 50 cars are still submerged in the Mississippi River.
HARRIS: We are getting witness accounts and updates from authorities.
For the latest, let's go live to Minneapolis. CNN's John Roberts is there for us.
John, good morning to you.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, to you, Tony and Heidi.
Here's the situation as we know it now. The recovery efforts started again anew this morning, about a half an hour ago. There were divers in the water going through those vehicles, and it said that there are as many as 50 of them in the waters of the Mississippi.
They were on the center span when it coming down last evening. They're going through them very slowly, very meticulously. It's a very dangerous area. A lot of current in the river. The water is very murky. There's a lot of steel, pieces of rebar, heavy concrete there. And according to officials, the bridge, that part of it and other parts, are still unstable. So it's a very dangerous situation.
You can see what the bridge looks like from these helicopter pictures. Just a scene of utter devastation. A bridge that was almost 2,000 feet long within the space of just about four or five seconds came down, fell into the Mississippi River Valley.
They just recently downgraded the number of dead. It was originally believed to have been seven. And actually bumped up to nine overnight, and then was reduced back down to four. Not sure exactly what's responsible for that, but it could be that a couple of people may have been double counted.
Still, though, 20 people at least missing. So the death toll is expected to go up.
Just a short time ago, we heard from Minneapolis officials, including police chief Tim Dolan, who said that this is obviously a tragedy of unimaginable proportions for people here in Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TIM DOLAN, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: Our sympathies go out to families that are involved in this and families that don't have answers. It's -- it's -- like fire Chief Clack said, this is going to take a long time, this recovery. We are dealing with the Mississippi River. We are dealing with currents. And we're going to have to do it slowly and safely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: In fact, it could take them as long as three days by going slowly and safely to recover the remains of those other people who are still believed to be trapped in those vehicles.
As for how long the entire recovery process and reconstruction of this bridge is going to take, I talked with Governor Time Pawlenty of Minnesota just a couple of minutes ago, who said he felt it was going to be at least a year. And there is a nine-member NTSB team that should be landing in Minneapolis within the hour, I would think, that's going to try to put together the pieces of how this happened.
Nobody has come up with any workable theories at this point, but there are a couple of things to look at. In 2005, this bridge was earmarked by the U.S. Department of Transportation as having structural deficiencies. It didn't really say how serious those deficiencies were. It's on this bridge inventory list that included some 159,000 other bridges, as well.
I mean, some of the stuff can be cosmetic, some of it can actually be structural problems. But an earlier report, as cited by the "Minneapolis Star Tribune" today, suggested that there were cracks in the metal in certain sections of this bridge. No one's sure at this point exactly what caused it to come down with such violence as it did, but we have heard from some eyewitnesses that there was a feeling of vibration, quite a strong vibration, almost like somebody had a jackhammer beside your vehicle and then the world dropped out from underneath their feet -- Tony.
HARRIS: And John, (INAUDIBLE) do that so well, but I'm just wondering what it was like when you arrived on the scene to see it for yourself. Give us a sense of what it looks like to the naked eye.
ROBERTS: Tony, I was in Los Angeles covering the 1993 Northridge earthquake and saw how the overpass of I-10 had come down and also some overpasses on I-5 in the Antelope Valley. This is like that times 10.
I mean, it's just a huge structure spanning the enormous valley. As I said, almost 2,000 feet.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROBERTS: That's the better part of a half a mile long, and it's just gone. In fact, about 400 yards behind me, you see a sign and a truck on the side of the road. Right after that truck, it just disappears into nothingness.
HARRIS: CNN's John Roberts with us.
And John, you'll be with us through most of the morning. We appreciate it. Thanks for your reporting.
COLLINS: Today marks the first anniversary of CNN's I-Reports. The bridge tragedy in Minneapolis ranks as one of the highest responses we have ever had. At least 70 I-Reports and counting.
Those photos were taken by Tim Davis with a Canon digital camera. Davis lives about a mile from the bridge. He tells CNN that he and a friend drove to the site and began snapping pictures.
Photographs like these could help investigators figure out what caused such sudden and catastrophic failure.
What we do know is road construction was under way on the bridge at the time. Surface road construction.
A witness says traffic was bumper to bumper. It has been for several weeks on that road with the eight-lane bridge narrowed to two lanes in each direction. Also, a freight train was passing at the time beneath the bridge on the north side of the river at the very time of the collapse.
If you have any photos, video or eyewitness stories about this bridge collapse, please send them now to CNN.com. Just click on "I- Report," and it will walk you right through the process.
The big question this morning, of course, what went wrong? Federal investigators will be trying to determine how this could happen. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is on the job.
CNN's Kathleen Koch is in Washington now.
Kathleen, tell us, understanding it is very, very early on in this investigation, what do we know about what could take place?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, right now what I'm told by a spokesman for the NTSB, Ted Lapakwitz (ph), is that the nine-member go-team from the NTSB team has already arrived in Minneapolis. They're making their way to the scene of the bridge collapse.
So the group left D.C. early this morning. Gary Van Etten (ph) has been named the lead investigator. But this is a disaster, of course, of such magnitude that the NTSB chairman himself, Mark Rosenker, has deployed as well to be the primary spokesman on location.
Also, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters headed to the site of the disaster. And she spoke as she left Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY PETERS, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: The most important thing for us to say right now is, on behalf of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, our agency and all of us, our thoughts and our prayers go out to the victims, the families of those who are injured and killed. That is the first priority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: So, a multi-pronged federal response to this major disaster in Minneapolis. Spokesman Ted Lapakawitz (ph) telling me, now that the team is on the ground, a briefing is certainly likely at some point this morning -- Heidi.
COLLINS: You know, I wonder, Kathleen, too, as we have been learning more about the situation -- this is 35-W. I lived in Minnesota for 20 years. I can't count the number of times I have crossed that bridge. This is a federal interstate.
Wondering who will be responsible as we go forward with the investigation about the repairs possibly and the structural deficiencies that we have heard a little bit about this morning. Will that be state or will that be federal?
KOCH: Heidi, you know, that's a very good question. It's pretty unclear right now. I can talk to you a little bit about what the NTSB though is going to be doing right away when they arrive on the ground.
They are going to be breaking up into several different teams. They're going to be looking at things like the design, the construction of the bridge. Its maintenance history of course very important. The rescuer response to this accident. Also, other factors like weather and water flow. A good point to make, the NTSB has deployed the head of its materials lab. He's a metallurgist, so he is certainly going to be looking at issues of corrosion, of bridge fatigue. That's something again that has been mentioned as a possibility in this case.
But certainly a main item that they'll be looking for first is the failure point. They want to find what point of this bridge failed first, precipitating this disaster. Though, Lapakawitz (ph, when I spoke to him this morning, acknowledged that investigators realize that that failure point could be under water and it may not be locatable for sometime.
COLLINS: Right.
KOCH: Another interesting point, the NTSB sent a letter last June, just over a year ago, to the Federal Highway Administration, to OSHA, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, urging them to better regulate contractors who are working on bridges.
As we have already reported this morning, a section of this freeway has been under repair for the last six weeks. Crews resurfacing it. So they'll be looking obviously at that letter and whether that's been paid attention to. And also looking at this 2005 Transportation Department report that classified this bridge as "structurally deficient" and in need of replacement. And I would certainly imagine that the transportation secretary, Mary Peters, will get some questions about that, too, why apparently no material concrete action was taken on it.
COLLINS: Absolutely. So many questions to be asked this morning.
Kathleen Koch, thank you.
KOCH: You bet.
HARRIS: We have a remarkable story of survival to share with you now.
Let's get you back to Minneapolis and John Roberts -- John.
ROBERTS: Tony, thanks very much.
His name is Matt Lundquist. He's a local contractor. He was on the I-35 West Expressway last night. He was on the north end coming in here to the city just after 6:00.
Matt, what happened?
MATT LUNDQUIST, BRIDGE COLLAPSE SURVIVOR: Well, I was sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. And we were going about five miles an hour. And I felt some shimmying and then a big jolt. And at that point, that's when cars in front of me started to disappear.
And I felt one or two more jolts. And the bridge, the small section behind me, collapsed. And I was able to just walk away. I was one of the very fortunate ones.
ROBERTS: So wait a second. You were here on the bridge and one section went down like this in front of you...
LUNDQUIST: Right.
ROBERTS: ... one section went down like this behind you?
LUNDQUIST: Yes.
ROBERTS: You were perched on the tip there?
LUNDQUIST: Right. Exactly. I was about three cars right on the tip there.
And the main section was in front of me. And a small section of the bridge collapsed bemind me, as well. And I was able to just walk down.
ROBERTS: So you were looking at 35 feet down in either direction.
LUNDQUIST: Right.
ROBERTS: How did you get down? Because when we look at those roadways, they're on a pretty significant angle.
LUNDQUIST: Yes, it looks steeper than it really is, I guess. I was able to just walk down and walked down the backside. And I just walked away.
ROBERTS: Now, you said that you felt a little shimmying just before the first section of roadway.
LUNDQUIST: Yes.
ROBERTS: Like a -- how would you describe that? We had Gary Babineuax (ph) on, who took a pretty hard fall. And he said it was like somebody had a jackhammer right beside his car.
LUNDQUIST: Right. Right. Yes, I would describe it like that.
It was -- you know, I felt the shaking and something didn't feel right. And then I felt the jolt, and that's when all of a sudden, you know, I thought to myself, maybe -- is the bridge collapsing? But I didn't think that was a likely scenario, but then I started to see things in front of me drop down. And...
ROBERTS: Well, what's the process of the mind when you say to yourself, could the bridge be collapsing...
LUNDQUIST: Right.
ROBERTS: ... and suddenly you see reality disappear in front of you?
LUNDQUIST: Right. I mean, it was just -- you know, it was surreal. And so everything dropped.
I mean, I felt another jolt in the section behind me collapse. And then I just waited. I mean, I just thought I was -- my section was next. I was just gripping the steering wheel, ready to go down. And I was just in a good spot.
ROBERTS: So what did you do after you got back down on the ground?
LUNDQUIST: Well, I guess I was going by -- everybody in all the cars were toppled over, and it looks really bad. Everybody was calling out of their windshields, and everybody in my area was -- seemed to be doing surprisingly well.
ROBERTS: Was there anybody who required assistance?
LUNDQUIST: One guy. One guy was -- you know, he complained of back pain. He was laying on the ground.
I just -- there wasn't an overhead danger at all, so I just told him to hang tight. And he was taken away in an ambulance. Other than that, we all -- you know, some people were a little bit banged up, but it was really minor.
ROBERTS: We are hearing these stories this morning of people who went through this incredible trauma, and when they finally got a sense that, yes, I'm alive and I think I'm OK, they immediately went to help other people.
LUNDQUIST: Right.
ROBERTS: It's pretty extraordinary.
LUNDQUIST: Right. Right. It's been a lot of good stories I've heard. And, you know, like I said, as bad as our area looked, everybody seemed all right.
ROBERTS: Now, how far away were you from the center section, that 390-foot-long section that fell right into the river?
LUNDQUIST: Maybe 20 feet. I mean, there was one car ahead of me that was OK, and then the next car after that two cars ahead of me was on the down slope. And yes, it was 20 feet away from that -- the major break. And about five feet behind me is where that other section came down.
ROBERTS: Somebody was really looking out for you.
LUNDQUIST: I agree.
ROBERTS: So, what is your sense of what this has done to the city? A helicopter flying overhead here.
LUNDQUIST: Right. Well...
ROBERTS: What's your -- you know, the fact that the death toll was downgraded to four in just the last hour, but there's every indication that it's going to increase maybe by 20...
LUNDQUIST: Right.
ROBERTS: ... by the end of the next 48 hours.
LUNDQUIST: Right. I mean, when I -- when I first got off the bridge and looked, I mean, I -- you know, my heart went out to all those people who were just ahead of me. And, you know, my first thought was there must have been 50 cars there all going into the river.
And, you know, all things considered, I guess, you know, it could have been worse. It's pretty amazing the way it worked out, I guess. It's horrible.
ROBERTS: Well, we're happy that you're with us today.
LUNDQUIST: All right. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
ROBERTS: I mean, somebody was looking out for you.
Matt Lundquist, thanks very much.
LUNDQUIST: All right. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Good to see you.
LUNDQUIST: You too.
ROBERTS: Tony.
HARRIS: Smart to shake that man's hand, John.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
COLLINS: Boy. Aging infrastructure. Many of the nation's bridges, in fact, getting a failing grade. Is it as dire as it sounds?
HARRIS: On the bridge, watching the tragedy unfold before their eyes. Amazing stories of survival.
COLLINS: Injuries, death and aftershock. Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen keeping on track with all of those stories. She's going to have the very latest for us right after a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: So throughout the morning we are going to be bringing you these amazing stories, these firsthand accounts, these eyewitness accounts, these survivor accounts of yesterday's unbelievable bridge collapse there in Minneapolis.
Take a look at these pictures and then listen to this survivor's account. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on the bridge. The bridge just completely went down, and it was about a 30-to-50-foot free fall. And my truck is completely split in half. I cannot believe -- I'm so thankful I was wearing my seat belt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And an update now on what we know about the deaths and injuries from last night's bridge collapse. Just moments ago we got some new details.
Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, has been monitoring that situation for us.
So this is little bit strange, but oftentimes so early on in a tragedy like this, we do expect numbers to fluctuate quite a bit. But this time we are hearing, instead of the nine that we have been reporting last night, four now dead.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Four now dead.
COLLINS: Yes.
COHEN: But they are also saying we're expecting that number to go back up again.
COLLINS: Absolutely. Yes.
COHEN: So you can't get too glued on numbers at this point, really, just, you know, less than 18 hours after this happened -- what, 14 hours or so. Those numbers are going to change.
Let's talk now about the injured. Another number that is likely to change. We were told by county officials and hospital officials that 79 people have been brought to area hospitals.
Let's talk about Hennepin County Medical Center, which has taken many of the injured. They received 24 injured. Eight of them were treated and released. And as of yesterday, six were in critical condition. One of those people in critical condition passed away since last night, a man who had chest injuries.
Now, in addition to the -- what they have right now, is five adults in critical condition, five in stable condition, adults, and another five children and teens in stable condition. And another hospital has four or five pediatric cases.
So, again, the number of injured, we're told, totals to 79. We expect that number to change.
Now, when you think about what happened, this bridge collapsing into the water with all of those cars on it, you might think that the numbers actually might be higher than that. And an official explained why the numbers aren't higher. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JOHN HICK, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: I think, you know, when you think about what the scene looked like, the fact that we had 80 people injured in itself is somewhat of a miracle that it's low. But a lot of the -- a lot of the victims we encountered that were on the bridge fortunately were on portions of the span that didn't have a very long collapse, didn't drop very far, and had quite minor injuries, if they were injured at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Now, while most of the injured, about 55, came in ambulances, the rest, the other, totaling up to about 80, were brought in by other people just in their cars. So that tells you something. Not everyone was severely, severely injured.
COLLINS: Right. And they were going to be trying to get to those hospitals in any way that they could, I'm sure of that.
COHEN: Right, absolutely.
COLLINS: And some of those spots, though, where the deaths occurred, we have learned, of course, that this bridge does ride across the Mississippi River at 64 feet above the ground. So much -- much farther to fall there.
COHEN: Right.
COLLINS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.
COHEN: OK. Sure.
HARRIS: Views from the scene. Just incredible I-Reports.
Thank you for sending them. Just pouring in to CNN. We're covering all the angles.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Greg Hunter at the George Washington Bridge in New York City. Is the Minneapolis bridge incident merely the tip of the iceberg? A warning shot about America's infrastructure, we'll talk about that when NEWSROOM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A little history about this bridge now. It was built 40 years ago and stretches more than 1,900 feet over the Mississippi.
At the time, there were concerns about the river's winter effect on the bridge. And to handle that, a system to pump de-icing fluid on to the bridge was built.
Typically, about 100,000 vehicles use this bridge every day. Two years ago, a federal DOT bridge assessment rated the bridge as -- quoting here now -- "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of repair. Still, a number of other bridges across the country received that very same assessment. And a 2001 report from the University of Minnesota found the trusses supporting the deck were not likely to crack in the foreseeable future.
HARRIS: Structural safety. Many bridges across the country falling short.
CNN's Greg Hunter joins us live from the Manhattan side of the George Washington Bridge.
Greg, good morning to you.
I can't imagine you're not going to tell us what we already know, and that is that the nation's infrastructure, bridges included, old and in need of massive repair.
HUNTER: That's right. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, they have been warning about this since at least 2001.
I'm in front of the GW Bridge. Now, this is a toll bridge that costs six bucks to come into Manhattan from New Jersey. That may be one of the reasons why it's in such good repair. It's in excellent repair.
They just finished painting it. You can see it's a huge structure. It has four lanes upper -- excuse me, four lanes one way, eight lanes upper, and six lanes, three and three, on the lower portion.
It is a huge bridge. The tower is 600 feet tall. It spans the Hudson River about a mile.
But according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, they say, listen, there are about 27 percent, according to a 2003 report, 27 percent or 160,000-some-odd bridges that are either structurally deficient -- that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to fail or they're going to collapse -- but that means that they have deteriorated structural components. And there's also bridges that are functionally obsolete. In other words, they were built for, you know, a narrow bridge, for certain car sizes and truck sizes, and volumes, and now the volumes are way out of whack. You know, trucks have gotten a lot bigger.
So either those two things, structurally deficient or functionally obsolete --160,000 bridges. And that's why you should care no matter where you live in the country. But that is just part of the infrastructure.
And according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, we need to spend between $1.3 and $1.6 trillion for aviation, for runways, for clean water, for dams. There are a couple of thousand dams that they say are a problem.
And if you take a look back at some of the history of failures, back in 1983, there is the Greenwich, Connecticut, river bridge, the Mianus River Bridge that collapsed back in 2003. There's the power grid here in the Northeast that had big, big problems, and it was blamed on the power grid.
And just a few weeks ago, pipes that are decades old in New York City blew up. One person was killed, other people were injured, and it splattered asbestos into the air.
So, that is part and parcel of what's the problem with just this bridge up in Minneapolis. Not sure it was a structural failure in terms of wear and tear, we don't know exactly what happened, but the problem with bridges being deficient is a nationwide problem. The problem with the infrastructure that needs to be rebuilt and attended to is more than a trillion-dollar problem here in America.
Back to you guys in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And Greg, is the reason we're not talking about fixes here because it's about money and political will?
HUNTER: Well, I'm neither Democrat nor Republican, but we are spending billions of dollars, you know, every month in Iraq. That money has to come from somewhere.
And the people at the American Society of Civil Engineers say, we're running deficits now. You know, a decade ago, in the '90s, we were running surpluses, in the trillions. And now we're running deficits.
So, the money to repair the infrastructure, it's just a dollar- and-cents issue...
HARRIS: Yes.
HUNTER: ... that the money is not there as it used to be.
Back to you guys.
HARRIS: OK. CNN's Greg Hunter for us.
Greg, appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
COLLINS: Updating the breaking news now out of Minnesota, the deadly bridge collapse. Here's what we know right now.
The recovery is under way once again this morning. It resumed after daybreak.
The death toll has been lowered at this point to four. Authorities are stressing that number could change as divers are searching the water now.
More than 60 people were injured when the 35W Bridge gave way. As many as 50 vehicles are still in the water.
ROBERTS: Of course, one of the focal points of yesterday's bridge collapse is the picture of that school bus that was on the bridge that fell hard about 35 to 40 feet. We're going to talk with the man whose organization had its children and its employees on that bus coming up next, when NEWSROOM continues from Minneapolis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASPER HILL, CITY SPOKESMAN: There's approximately 50 more vehicles still under water and the fire department, Minneapolis Fire, is the lead agency in this and it's a recovery mission at this point.
COLLINS: You are looking at the horrific pictures from yesterday's bridge collapse -- 35-W heading into Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Just before getting into the city, if you head east, you go to St. Paul. If you head west, you go to Minneapolis. That bridge came down. At this point, we have four people dead and 62 people injured. But as we have been reporting here right at this hour, searchers are back in the water diving and trying to recover people who they believe did not get out alive in their cars.
We are hearing, of course, they've been telling us 50 cars possibly falling off the bridge in the middle of this collapse.
We are watching all of it for you this morning.
We also want to let you know the president of the United States will be making some comments about this tragedy in Minneapolis. He will be addressing the public at 11:00 Eastern from the Rose Garden. We, of course, will take that for you.
Meanwhile, authorities say the recovery could take days. And it's not too surprising, I guess, by the scenes that we have we have been seeing.
But for the very latest now, let's take you back live to Minneapolis.
CNN's John Roberts is there -- John, good morning to you.
JOHN ROBERTS, "AMERICAN MORNING," CO-ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Heidi.
You know, when the bridge collapse first hit the air waves, the image that we focused on was that school bus that was on that part of the bridge that dropped about 35 to 40 feet. And any time you see a school bus, your initial reaction is, my god, were there children on board and are they all OK?
Let's meet the man right now who chartered that school bus for his organization, Pillsbury United Communities.
Tony Wagner is the president of the organization.
What was the first inkling you got, Tony, that it was your school bus, your children, your employees who were involved? TONY WAGNER, PRESIDENT, PILLSBURY UNITED COMMUNITIES: Well, the first thing I saw on television was that school bus that you just described. Shortly thereafter, I got a call from one of my staff that it was, indeed, a bus transporting our kids.
ROBERTS: And how did that staff member find out?
WAGNER: I think they found out from the people who were -- some of the people on the bus and got off and used their cell phone (INAUDIBLE).
ROBERTS: Because you were telling me that one person, the first inkling they had is when they saw your director...
WAGNER: Yes.
ROBERTS: ...who is still in the hospital this morning with injuries, being loaded onto a stretcher.
WAGNER: Yes, that's absolutely correct. Our director of communications -- that's what she saw for the first time on the news.
ROBERTS: Now, the director of your program. And this was a bus that had taken kids away for a day trip...
WAGNER: Correct.
ROBERTS: ...with the Communities and was bringing them back to your to Wait House (ph), as one of the houses that you have here. The person who's most severely injured is the director of the program.
How is she doing this morning?
WAGNER: Well, I think she's -- my staff saw her last night and they said that she was in good spirits. She has some significant injuries and we're just all hoping that it will be a quick recovery. But we're thankful that she's alive and is doing well.
ROBERTS: So what did your organization do when you found out that it was your bus, your children who were on board?
WAGNER: Yes, the immediate thing was to determine whether all the children were accounted for. And we did that, I think, rather quickly.
The second thing was to let the parents know and get them reunited. And we were in that process for a couple of hours (INAUDIBLE)...
ROBERTS: And they must have been beside themselves?
WAGNER: Well, absolutely. Absolutely. We all were.
Fortunately, we were -- had a lot of help from people at the scene and things, I think, went as well as they could have.
ROBERTS: Now, some of the children were taken to a Red Cross center. Some of them were brought back to your Wait House.
Did you speak with any of the children?
What were the stories that they were telling?
WAGNER: I didn't personally, but there -- I know what I've heard is there was obviously -- the age range was roughly six to 14. And particularly the younger kids, really, really were having a hard time dealing with it. And...
ROBERTS: Oh, you know, we talked with Gary Babino (ph), who was in a pickup truck that went down in one of the sections and he said when he got out that his back was really hurting him. And he ran over to the bus to help evacuate the children and actually dropped them down off of the side of the bridge there.
And he said that some of them were screaming and were severely traumatized.
WAGNER: Yes, that's what I heard. There was a lot of screaming and a lot of people panicking. And I think our staff did a really great job of getting them off the back of the bus and -- well, like you said and like we know, a lot of people were there to help. So we were fortunate in that regard.
ROBERTS: How many of your people in total on that bus?
WAGNER: Well, all of the -- there were 58 people plus the driver.
ROBERTS: Right.
WAGNER: And I think the driver had a couple children on the bus, as well...
ROBERTS: Two children.
WAGNER: ...and staff.
ROBERTS: So you had 58...
WAGNER: Fifty-eight -- 50 children, eight staff.
ROBERTS: and then the bus driver and his two kids?
WAGNER: Right.
ROBERTS: It's just remarkable that they came out of it as well as they did.
WAGNER: Yes. We think it's a miracle that, you know, more wasn't -- more didn't happen. It was great.
ROBERTS: Well, we thank you for being with us.
WAGNER: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Tony Wagner, thanks very much.
He is the president of Pillsbury United Communities. Their chartered bus -- it was on the bridge deck that went down yesterday -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy.
CNN's John Roberts for us this morning.
Boy, very, very lucky kids, that's for sure.
Thanks so much, John.
HARRIS: Well, today marks the first anniversary of CNN's I- Reports.
The bridge tragedy in Minneapolis ranks as one of the highest responses we've ever had. At least 70 I-Reports and counting.
These photos were taken by Heather Hauer, a student at the University of Minnesota. She lives about two blocks away.
Photographs like these could actually help investigators figure out what caused such sudden and catastrophic failure.
What we do know is road construction was underway on the bridge at the time. A witness said traffic was bumper to bump, with the eight lane bridge narrowed to two lanes in each direction. Also, a freight train was passing beneath the bridge on the north side of the river at the time of the collapse.
If you have photos, video or eyewitness stories about the bridge collapse, send them now, please, to CNN.com.
Just click on I-Report and you will be prompted through the process.
COLLINS: Josh Fisher is on the phone now with us. He is in Cedar Falls, Iowa. But he was in Minneapolis when the bridge collapsed and is one of our I-Reporters this morning.
Josh, tell us what you saw. I know you were at 35-W and University, which is basically right where the bridge went down.
JOSH FISHER, BRIDGE COLLAPSE WITNESS: Good morning, Heidi.
I was about a half a block away, I believe, when the bridge collapsed. I was driving and I heard a loud noise and kind of a low rumble. And when I pulled up to the intersection, all I could see was a whole bunch of dust. And I looked across the river and the bridge was down.
COLLINS: How long did it take you, Josh, to process what on Earth had happened?
FISHER: Well, truthfully, I don't think I really began to process what was happening until hours later. You kind of go on autopilot at that point And my first instinct was to stick around and see how things develop.
COLLINS: But did you have any idea what you were looking at? I mean did it make sense to you when you saw that bridge that I know has been there forever and is such a busy bridge in such a busy area of the city, all of a sudden go up in smoke, basically?
FISHER: Well, I think what hit me after I got over the initial shock of not seeing the bridge there was I realized it was rush hour. But there weren't too many cars visible on what was left of the bridge. And that was certainly a disturbing thought.
COLLINS: One of the things I've been thinking about, too, is I know it's under construction now for quite sometime and everybody was basically just sitting there because it's such terrible traffic in that area and bumper to bumper. It's been like that for a long time.
The traffic wasn't really moving when this went down, was it?
FISHER: I don't believe so, no. It's very fortunate for the students and employees of the U. That the entrances and exits at University were closed. And so -- otherwise there would have been a lot of students and faculty on there. It could have been -- it could have been someone I knew, which would have been hard.
COLLINS: I know.
I understand.
To that point, Josh, why don't you do us a favor and tell us a little bit more about that area?
Just for people who are not familiar with exactly where we're talking about in Minneapolis.
We've got the University of Minnesota down there, Digitown (ph), Seven Corners, the Guthrie Theater, the Metrodome.
Just kind of make it all make sense for people who aren't familiar.
FISHER: Well, the I 35-W Bridge, which collapsed, is one of the bridges which connect the two sides of the campus of the University of Minnesota.
COLLINS: Washington to University, right?
FISHER: Yes.
COLLINS: OK.
FISHER: Yes. And so for people trying to travel on car between the two campuses, there would be a lot of traffic that way. People trying to travel to Twins games -- and there was one played that started about an hour from then. And the University of Minnesota, for those many people who don't know, is pretty much a downtown campus. And so the campus buildings are just blocks from the bridge.
COLLINS: Right.
And, Josh, I know it's a really busy area. We keep on thanking our lucky stars that there weren't more people on the bridge at the time. If the whole thing had been packed, of course, it would be even a worse situation than we are already dealing with this morning.
Josh, we appreciate your time.
Josh Fisher, who was at 35-W and University, basically, where the bridge went down yesterday.
HARRIS: Well, you hate to hear it. You hate to say it. It's not a rescue, but a recovery. That word from officials at the scene of the Minnesota bridge collapse.
CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us live from Minneapolis -- Rusty, what do we know about this bridge and its safety record?
Certainly the focus of attention this day after.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know it was built in 1967. It's 40-years-old. And six years ago, in 2001, they did a study and they did find some issues, possible fracture issues, that sort of thing. But they didn't think that a structural failure was imminent by any means.
Apparently they had seen some flaws around the trusses but they didn't feel that they were serious enough to be addressed, apparently.
And the bridge was inspected, according to the governor, in 2005 and 2006, and found to be safe.
But this is a bridge, remember, Tony, 100,000 people a day cross this bridge. So it's pretty amazing, as you said, that only 50 cars went in. But one of the reasons why is because a couple of the lanes were blocked off because they were doing some construction -- some cosmetic type construction. So a couple of the lanes were blocked off. So that was another reason there weren't quite as many cars on the bridge at the time.
HARRIS: And, you know, Rusty, we did hear from the governor a short time ago that the bridge is actually slotted to be replaced in 2020. So they were certainly aware of the issues and there were plans afoot to get that bridge replaced. I have to ask you, as we take a look at at least one of the boats and maybe a couple of the boats in the water right now, what are search teams, rescue teams saying about the ongoing effort to find people today?
DORNIN: It's really difficult. I mean you're -- the Mississippi River here very murky, very strong currents. They're saying, look, this is going to be a very slow process. And you just look at that mess in the river, Tony. You see these giant, you know, pieces of concrete and rebar and steel. I mean you can understand why this completely suspended the recovery operations in the dark of night, how dangerous.
I mean even during the day it's got to be dangerous.
So, you know, they know there's about 50 cars down there. They're still not quite sure how many people are missing. I mean the only way you really know how many are missing is by the families reporting in.
HARRIS: Yes.
DORNIN: No one knows, in some cases, how many people were in each car. So it's kind of a fluctuating number. Even the confirmed death toll, you know, would -- changed a few times. We heard seven, we heard nine and then back down to four, because of confusing reports from the area hospitals.
HARRIS: Hey, we're looking at pictures -- I don't know if you can see them from where you are (INAUDIBLE) Rusty. But we're seeing pictures of a diver who is working in the water. And I guess these are pictures from yesterday.
But I'm wondering, are there plans to put divers back in the water at some point?
I don't know if they're in the water now.
DORNIN: They are planning on putting them back in, but as I said just about an hour ago, they're going to take it very slowly. They are not going to put people in danger. Because this is a recovery operate at this point, obviously, it's not as imminent that they get in the water right away.
And they just keep stressing that they're going to take their time and it's going to be a long process.
HARRIS: What a scene. What a scene.
Rusty Dornin for us this morning.
Rusty, good to see you.
Thank you.
COLLINS: On the bridge watching the tragedy unfold before their eyes -- amazing stories of survival.
HARRIS: The history of collapse, from San Francisco to New York. A quick look at bridges that have failed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Let's get you updated on the breaking news, the Minnesota bridge collapse. Here is what we know.
The recovery underway again right now. It resumed after daybreak. The search teams are taking it slow. Officials again are calling this recovery effort now. The death toll has been lowered to four, but authorities say that number could change as divers search the river.
More than 60 injured when the Interstate 35-W Bridge gave way. As many as 50 vehicles are still in the water.
COLLINS: I can't imagine what people must have been thinking if they were on the bridge at the time and were looking straight down at the water. I just can't imagine it.
We want to take you to sound now from someone who was standing by and watched all of this happening regarding some of the rescue efforts that were fast and furious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROD POWERS, WITNESS: We carried people from the bridge on, you know, put them on the stretchers and then carried them to the ambulance.
You know, when you put a bloodied, delusional pregnant woman onto a stretcher and then carry her to the ambulance, it's one of the things you're going to remember for a while.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So she was -- one of the victims was pregnant?
POWERS: Yes. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was she saying?
POWERS: She was completely out of it.
She was maybe -- she was moaning at the (INAUDIBLE)...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was like flailing around kind of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was -- she wasn't looking good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So many stories similar to that.
I'm sure that we are going to be hearing those as we continue on here today.
We also want to let you know President Bush will be making some remarks about the Minnesota bridge collapse. And that will happen at 11:00 this morning, a little over an hour from now, from the Rose Garden he will be talking. And we will take that for you live just as soon as that happens.
HARRIS: And still to come in THE NEWSROOM this morning, on the bridge watching the tragedy unfold before their eyes -- more amazing stories of survival coming your way this morning in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: We want to ask you to slow down a little bit in Minneapolis. And you can understand why, of course. An example of that, no baseball today at the Metrodome. That bridge is a major artery to the stadium and last night the Twins decided to play ball despite the tragedy. Officials had thought about calling off the game but were afraid the surge in traffic would actually hinder rescue efforts.
They're still deciding what to do about this weekend's series against the Cleveland Indians.
COLLINS: Stories of survival from the scene of the tragedy.
Let's take a moment to listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MAYOR R.T. RYBAK, MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: The bridge on 35-W has collapsed. There are several known dead people as part of that. It's a very dynamic situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just completely gave way, the whole bridge, from one side of the Mississippi to the other. It just completely gave away. It fell all the way down. I -- I probably had a 30-, 35-foot freefall.
FISHER: We carried people from the bridge on -- you know, we put them on the stretchers and then carried them to the ambulances. You know, when you put a bloody, delusional pregnant woman on to a stretcher and then carry her to the ambulance, it's one of those things you're going to remember for a while.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were a lot of kids that were hurt. There was a guy who had -- his car had fallen in. He said his truck was split in half. And he was bloody. His nose was bloody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I realized that the school bus was right next to me. And me and a couple of other guys went over and started lifting the kids off the bridge. They were yelling, screaming, bleeding. I think there was some broken bones.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were stunned. People were crying. People were scared. I don't know how this could happen.
KRISTI ROLLWAGEN, DEPUTY DIR MINNEAPOLIS EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: it did unfortunately happen at the busiest time of our rush hour and we also have a baseball game coming -- that started -- and there was traffic coming into town for the baseball game.
DR. JOSEPH CLINTON, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, HENNEPIN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER: We have one drowning victim here and I believe there are more drowning victims at the scene. DAVE ERNEWEIN, KTNF OPERATIONS MANAGER: There were emergency vehicles going in every which direction in downtown Minneapolis, sirens everywhere, people running everywhere. And the bridge that collapsed was about a -- well, maybe half-mile to my east. And it was just such an odd sight to look over there and see a bridge that used to always be there now no longer being there.
GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: Obviously, this is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So what really happened last evening at the end of the rush hour, the evening commute?
A federal investigation underway. An NTSB team on the ground. The transportation secretary on the way, as well, all looking for answers.
COLLINS: Children scrambling to safety. Their school bus trapped in the wreckage of the collapsed bridge in Minneapolis. Other survivors coming to help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Boy, I have to tell you one of the more amazing survival stories from yesterday's bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the story of the school bus.
Have you heard this one with the 50 students, children on board, returning from a field trip on the bridge at the moment of the collapse.
Fifty children and adults, teachers, chaperones -- 61 in all.
Listen to some of the accounts from some of the young people on that bus.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We were on our way back from a swimming field trip. And we were riding over the bridge and the bridge collapsed. And we were right on the part where it went down, it curved down.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I know a little girl had -- she was bleeding. I didn't see what happened, but she was bleeding in between her legs. And another girl had hurt her neck.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I felt scared, because first we thought we crashed, but then we felt like -- we felt us going down.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) what you were seeing?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: No, I didn't look out the window. All I saw was, I saw dust everywhere and people were screaming.
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