Relatives Wait As Bridge Search Continues
Police Name 8 Still Missing At Site Of Collapsed Bridge But Caution The Number Could Still Rise
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Play CBS Video Video Emotions Mark Bridge Site Though Bush promises aid and heroic divers still risk their own lives, survivors and families of last week's bridge failure must learn to cope with grief. Bianca Solorzano reports.
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Video Minn. Tragedy: Still Questions Two days of diving have not found more bodies. Questions still remain as President Bush tours the site and promises federal aid to rebuild. Teri Okita reports.
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Video Eye To Eye: Rescue Diver Only On The Web: Byron Pitts interviews rescue diver Shanna Hanson about the underwater recovery mission in the Twin Cities bridge tragedy.
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Dorothy Svendsen holds a photo of her four children, from left, Cheryl Svendsen, Greg Jolstad, Linda Svendsen and Gary Jolstad, on Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007, in Hinckley, Minn. Svendsen's eldest son, Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora, remains missing after the Aug. 1, 2007, collapse of the I-35W bridge in downtown Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Cheng)
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A diver searches trough cars amidst the rubble of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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As recovery work continues at the scene of the bridge collapse, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters has called on all states to immediately inspect 756 bridges with the same type of truss design. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
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Satellite images released by GeoEye show the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis before and after the bridge collapse. The before image, left, was taken on Sept. 4, 2001. The after image, right, was taken on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007. (AP Photo/GeoEye Satellite Image)
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Interactive Span Of The Disaster Photos, video and a look at the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed during rush hour
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Photo Essay Twin Cities Bridge Collapse A major bridge suddenly turned into a scene of horror as it collapsed into the Mississippi River.
Some of their relatives can barely contemplate life without a loved one, said volunteer Allan Brankline. They stare at photographs while waiting for new information as divers dodge hazards, methodically searching the river.
In one frightening moment, one of the divers became entangled in a crushed car on the river's bottom. Other divers were able to free him, but were unable to recover any of the missing victims of the collapse, reports CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano.
"They are asking themselves, 'When is the last time I spoke with them? What is the last thing I said?'" said Brankline, a mental health specialist and certified social worker from Rochester.
In four seconds, lives changed. People who were strangers are now embracing, Brankline said. Long-estranged relatives are speaking.
The families on campus wait in a room with no TVs but plenty of toys and stuffed animals for the children. Those who want to see the images on screen wander into other rooms.
"The first day, the families really sat amongst themselves. But as time's gone on, those boundaries are evaporating because they're all experiencing this together," Tschida said.
"I've heard laughter, some applause, even some celebration. They're celebrating the lives of their loved ones," she said.
Late in the drizzly afternoon, nearly 40 relatives boarded buses for a police escort to the nearby 10th Avenue bridge, where they peered over the edge and into the wreckage below. Most stood silently for several minutes before reboarding and returning to Augsburg.
"We wanted them to be able to get there, have an opportunity to say prayers," said Minneapolis Police Capt. Mike Martin.
Authorities confirmed late Saturday night that eight were missing, including 21-year-old Richard Chit and his mother, Vera Peck, and a 29-year-old Capella University employee, Scott Sathers of Maple Grove.
Dorothy Svendsen, mother of missing 45-year-old construction worker Greg Jolstad, has been waiting at home in Hinckley while daughter-in-law Lisa Jolstad travels between home in Mora and the Red Cross centers.
Greg Jolstad had been operating a compact loader as part of an 18-man crew pouring new concrete on the bridge deck, but he never feared for his safety, even when working high above water.
"I think he just thought it was part of his job, a hazard, just one of the things you have to deal with," his mother said.
Now, all the family can do is wait for Jolstad to be found.
"We have a support group of friends and family, and that helps a lot," Svendsen said. "It's awful, but I don't think anybody has any information."
Mohamed Sahal's entire family vanished when the bridge fell — his daughter Hanah, 2, and his 23-year-old wife Sadiya, five months pregnant.
The nursing student had been on her way to pick up a friend who needed a ride home from work when she got snarled in barely moving traffic. She called home about a half-hour before the bridge collapsed to say that the traffic was bad, but that she'd be home soon.
Sahal is so devastated he can barely speak, relying on an activist in the Somali immigrant community for periodic updates from the police.
"He's with family in an apartment," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. "He's just praying a lot."
Andrew Baker, chief medical examiner for Hennepin County, said the families he has met have been forming friendships likely to last a lifetime.
"These are people that 48 hours ago never would have crossed paths in the whole world, and here they are coming together. ... It's just amazing," he said.
"We have families to go home to tonight. Some of them don't. And I don't even know if there's a word you can use to describe that feeling."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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