On Thursday, a pedestrian bridge near Florida International University collapsed, crushing the cars below and killing at least six people. The bridge, which was under construction and wasn’t set to open for a few months, was supposed to protect pedestrians after a vehicle struck and killed an FIU student last year.
At 10 am ET, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Dave Downey said in a press conference, “We exhausted all our search and rescue capabilities. We used auditory, visual, canines and determined there are no longer any survivors. We will work to get all these victims removed.”
BREAKING: Miami-Dade police say death toll in bridge collapse increases to six as search continues.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 16, 2018
Emergency crews are now in the midst of the “very slow process” of searching for victims and evidence of unstable infrastructure within the wreckage, Miami-Dade police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta told CNN. Among these crews are homicide detectives and FBI agents, according to NBC.
“Our primary focus is to remove all the cars and the victims in a dignified manner and not compromise the investigation,” Miami-Dade Deputy Mayor Maurice Kemp said.
The workers expect to find several bodies, as five of the six people who were killed were still underneath the rubble Friday morning. At least nine people were taken to hospitals.
The bridge had been installed Saturday, using an accelerated construction process which was intended to minimize the time that street traffic is halted for construction.
Florida governor Rick Scott said, “If anybody’s done anything wrong, we’ll hold them accountable.”