Navy And FBI Join Bridge Collapse Search

More Divers Search The Mississippi River To Locate Bodies Buried Under Wreckage

(CBS/AP)  An elite team of Navy divers joined the search Tuesday for victims of the collapse of a Minnesota bridge that killed at least five people, bringing greater experience and more sophisticated technology to the search for bodies in the murky Mississippi River.

The team of 15 divers and a five-member command crew arrived hours before dawn Tuesday, and several divers immediately entered the water even though local officials encouraged them to wait until daybreak.

"Two in the morning, they dove into the water," Minneapolis Police Capt. Mike Martin said, calling them "the best divers in the world."

Martin says it's so dangerous, at this point Navy divers are the only ones skilled enough to handle the search, reports CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano.

"The divers are facing extremely swift currents, experiencing very dark and deep places where lights aren't going to be able to help them see what they're doing," EMT Adam Wojciekhowski told Solorzano.

Navy Senior Chief David Nagle said the divers wanted to get a feel for the area, and were in the water for about two hours. Divers were back in the river by late morning, removing concrete rebar and other debris. Local crews have complained they have been hampered by dangerously unstable wreckage and a rapid current.

One of the cars that did tumble into the river was pulled out. No bodies were inside, but it's another step closer to getting searchers to the missing, reports Solorzano.

Hennepin County Sheriff's Capt. Bill Chandler said the vehicle was removed to make room for the Navy dive operation.

The team's arrival raised hopes of speeding up the recovery operation. At least eight people are missing and presumed dead in last week's collapse, with perhaps more still in the river. Five people are confirmed dead.

Joining the Navy team was an FBI dive crew, doing forensic work for the investigation. Their tools included a small unmanned submarine equipped with a robotic arm. "It's basically crime-lab-underwater kind of work," Martin said.

The Navy divers will be tethered to above-ground oxygen tanks, so they can stay in the water much longer than local divers, who had been using scuba tanks. Heavy-duty equipment will allow divers to cut through steel wreckage. The Navy also has sophisticated sonar to scan for bodies.

Navy divers assisted in the reclamation of historic sunken ships including the ironclad Civil War ship the Monitor. After the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island near New York City, they made more than 700 dives to recover bodies and reclaim wreckage to help the government investigation. Navy divers recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

Also Tuesday, four people still hospitalized with injuries from the collapse improved to serious condition, leaving only one person in critical condition. About 100 people were hurt in the disaster.

Separately, teams of designers and builders are racing to meet a dawn Wednesday deadline to show they are qualified to bid on a fast-track bridge replacement project.

State transportation officials hope to award contracts next month, with the goal of having a new bridge standing at the end of 2008.

Erecting such a bridge would ordinarily take about three years, even if the design and building phases were overlapped to save time, said Bill Cox, owner of Corman Construction Inc. in Annapolis Junction, Md., a road and bridge construction firm.

Teams of designers and builders are racing to meet a dawn Wednesday deadline for showing they are qualified to bid on the bridge replacement project, which the state has put on a fast track.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is reconsidering a proposed increase in the states gas tax to fund roads, something he's vetoed twice, reports Solorzano

State transportation officials hope to award contracts next month, with the goal of having a new bridge standing at the end of 2008.

A severe winter in a state known for its cold weather could throw off the reconstruction schedule. But other conditions are favorable - including a construction industry with plenty of available resources to take on such a daunting challenge.

"It is doable. It is a bit fast, but this is an emergency," said Khaled Mahmoud with the Bridge Engineering Association in New York. "And if we are ever good at anything, it's responding to emergencies."

The goal of awarding contracts in mid-September is highly ambitious given the array of questions to be answered, including whether to mimic the former bridge's alignment, how much traffic to accommodate, how much to spend and what it will look like.

The state intends to write financial incentives into the contract to make the compressed schedule more likely to be met.

The bridge's design will largely determine the cost, and although the federal government has pledged $250 million, Mahmoud said $300 million to $350 million "sounds about right."

One study estimates that more than 80 percent of the nation's roads and bridges are not capable of meeting the country's needs over the next decade. Rather than spending on needed repairs, much of the money spent goes to politically popular new projects, reports Solorzano.

Just last month, North Carolina opened this $102 million stretch of roadway, yet one in three bridges in the state is listed as substandard.

The city asked residents to observe a moment of silence Tuesday evening at the minute the bridge fell, and bells at churches and City Hall were to toll immediately after.

[processor2]

well,
Minnesota is a "blue state"

..

Which government(s) do you want to blame for this disaster??

City, County, or all the way up....to the State government ???

Liberals don't seem to have the brain power to comprehend the American concept that:
"we may be one country, BUT we are ALSO fifty diverse states"

Celebrate diversity.

...

[jetranger7]

HERES SOMETHING ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW,Big over the Road Diesel Trucks,also pay whats known as a Heavy Hi-Way use Tax, along with a Federal Hi-Way Excise Tax (FET), they pay that Hi-Way use Tax every Quarter for the amount of miles they run thru any state thru out the year. Also, every time they buy tires, they pay a FET-Tax too for every tire (18-tires),along with Fuel Taxes, Cigarette Taxes, Alcohol Taxes, Taxes on Food,Clothes etc. With this amount of Taxes, why is there a problem anywhere ?? Just think, when a Trucker goes to buy a new Kenworth or Peterbilt for say "130,000" dollars, not only do they pay Sales Taxes on that, but also Federal Excise Tax, plus the $2000 or more for the license plates for that truck, due every year, and ohh ya, trailer tags to ! Think how many Big Trucks are out there nation wide, and then you regular motorists pay too of course, so just where is all this Tax payer money really going, PORK Barrell projects, we know nothing about, and mis-management and Waste, in every State, across the country ! Its time to put a Stop to the Fraud-Waste and mis-managemt of our Money !

[lars008-2009]

muhammad ali baba tries to convert to judaism

The Jews proved obdurate; their doctrine had no place in it for Arab prophets or messiahs. They took a malicious pleasure in exposing the ignorance of biblical history which Mohammed displayed in his stories about biblical persons, thus impugning his claim to have his stories by revelation. He retorted that his was the true and original version; if it was told otherwise in the books of the Jews it was because they had falsified their Scriptures. The attitude of the Jews was not only vexatious, but had in it a visible element of danger. In conjunction with the %u2018hypocrites,%u2019 as Mohammed calls the numerous class who outwardly professed Islam but had no real faith in it, they might at more than one crisis have made his position in Medina untenable. In the interludes in the conflict with the Meccans, Mohammed, on one pretext or another, fell upon the Jews, and did not stop till he had driven out all their tribes from Medina, and conquered their strongholds in the oasis of Khaibar.%u201D
http://libertyandculture.blogspot.com/2005/08/mohammeds-ethnic-cleansing.html

[lars008-2009]

muhammad ali baba tries to convert to judaism

%u201CAt Medina he expected the Jews to recognize the agreement between his teaching and theirs, and to own him as a prophet in the true succession, perhaps as the Messiah for whom they were waiting. The Moslems, when they prayed, turned their faces toward Jerusalem; the Day of Atonement was made a solemn fast for Moslems, the one great fast in the year. Mohammed did not see why if he acknowledged Moses and his Torah, the Jews should not acknowledge him and his Koran.
http://libertyandculture.blogspot.com/2005/08/mohammeds-ethnic-cleansing.html

[lars008-2009]

ZEITGEISTmovie.com.

The American/Israeli ELITE have a new problem.
Posted by fascistusa at 06:47 PM : Aug 07, 2007

hahahahaha

WTC
Study Backs Up Feds' Theory of Why World Trade Center Collapsed on Sept. 11
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,284816,00.html
New Three-D study supports federal finding in 9-11 tragedy
http://www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=6683593&nav=0zHF
Study Supports Fed's Finding On WTC Collapse
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=nation_world&id=5401655
Simulation Finds 9/11 Fireproofing Key
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4905202.html
Debunking The 9/11 Myths - Mar. 2005 Cover Story
PM examines the evidence and consults the experts to refute the most persistent conspiracy theories of September 11.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html

moonbat alert... lol

[lars008-2009]

hmmmmm

what religion was muhammad ali baba before he converted to judaism???

[lars008-2009]

NOW CAN WE KILL THEM???
If they can kill us, we can kill them

Qaeda warns of attacks 'worse than 9/11'
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070530102648.wuwa6k96&show_article=1

Hizbullah Deputy Sec-Gen Sheikh Naim Qassem: We Have Jurisprudent Permission to Carry Out 'Martyrdom' Operations, Fire Missiles on Israeli Civilians From Ayatollah Khomeini
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD154907

Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp

But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.

"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.

Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.

The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108

[nskduke]

The bridge was built where if one part of the bridge falls, the whole thing falls. That doesn't make since.

[idlepugilist]

The governor of MN has been, until 7 days ago, absolutely disinterested in the budget for the department of transportation. He appointed his lieutenant gov (first time in Minnesota's history) to head the DOT years ago in an effort to streamline (gut it) wherever possible. Tim Pawlenty would not consider the words TAX INCREASE in his work.
But now even the most ultra right wing governor is talking tax increase, because he understands some level of reality.
It's so easy for those who don't know how far a tax dollar stretches to say the infrastructure of American roads can be overhauled without raising taxes - or severely gutting other programs. Who really needs libraries, parks, the EPA, water treatment or street lights, ya know?
This is not a topic for the light-headed or those who pack away 12 Buds a night. This is a daunting task ahead, if the tens of thousands of bridges in America are "coming of age" like Minneapolis. Time to pull on your big boy pants and buck up, because somebody's going to have to pay for George's War AND take care of internal America as well.

[roach9703]

Caution is needed here in bridge development and design in that we do NOT know why this bridge failed. Would it not be wise to understand this before one proceeds? Soil failure apparently has been the cause of 65% of bridge collapses. Should this issue be thoroughly studied, particularly with the swift running Mississippi runing underneath?
AS they say hasts make waste.

[pepperp1]

Posted by neobrian at 07:56 PM : Aug 07, 2007

I call you wise and insightful.

[lizardbate]

We all pay a lot of gas tax, state and federal. With the price of gas in previous months, that meant a lot more gas tax was collected than I'm sure the state and fed's had planned on. With that point being made!!!! Why should any state need to raise the fuel tax to pay anymore - to pay for these needed repairs, along with all the other taxes we pay. You pay a separate tax for everything you do!!!!! Go get it from the employees of the CDC, they stole enough to pratically pay for part of the bridge in Minn.

[meisemann]

Well, whatevery politic party you belong to, please think of the families of those involved with this terrible tragedy.

I think it is fairly safe to say that those people who were crossing that bridge weren't thinking that it would collapse on them.

Matthew

[w5ku]

Get your acts together folks. The infrastructure reports that told our wonderful government officials that the entire USA bridges and roads and water supply and sewer systems need replaced or rework, was done during the CLINTON administration and NOTHING, I mean, Nothing was done by either CLINTON or the states to fix the problem. Now you want to blame Bush?

Who's the moron? Get your facts straight.

Nothing has been done because the American voters DO NOT WANT more taxes to pay for all of this. That is why nothing has been done. It is not either party's fault. It is ALL of our faults.

Get a grip.

[neobrian-2009]

I`m PROUD to be blue in red state,....Call me a liberal,..Call me what you want,....I belonged to union for over 21 years,went to college too. I own a home,pay taxes,and I can read quite well.
I`m not a rocket scientist and I don`t play one on TV. But, I can plainly state that anyone ,..I mean ANYONE that can`t see the damage that has been to our 50 states in past six years is a total moron.
It will take a long time to undue this quagmire. Starting with ' Stolen elections' WMD,Abramoff,Cunningham,The Ports,Immigration,Katrina,Harriet Miers,Halliburton,Scooter,Plame Blame,..Ace Cheney,....ENDLESS Errors And TOTAL CORRUPTION !!
On and On !!!!Come on `08 !

[fascistusa]

OOOH. The FBI is on the case!!

hey..look under this rock... it's

BIN LADEN!!!

wait. over here... it's Lee Harvey Oswald!!!

ZEITGEISTmovie.com.

The American/Israeli ELITE have a new problem.

[processor2]

well,
Minnesota is a "blue state"

..

Which government(s) do you want to blame for this disaster??

City, County, or all the way up....to the State government ???

...

Liberals don't seem to have the brain power to comprehend the American concept that:
"we may be one country, BUT we are ALSO fifty diverse states"

Celebrate diversity.

...

[infidel_us]

(the following is a Rosie O'Lardass parody)

Oh NO! Not the FBI! I just know they're gonna plant listening devices to spy on Americans saying bad things about the Bush administration!

[dan9111]

Screw Social Security. Those who defend it surely won't stop cashing their checks when they receive whatever they paid in. Theft from the younger generation is indefensible. My participation in a pyramid scheme should not become your obligation to join.

[random_radar]

Are they still planning to reconstruct the bridge to analyze why it failed? If they had put that much effort into maintaining the bridge, it would still be standing. A day late and a dollar short...