http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/US/05/26/barge.bridge/story.bridge.collapse.jpg
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/images/05/26/top.bridge.kwtv.jpg
cut n paste story :
*At least five people were injured, and several are missing. The highway was shut down in both directions.
The bridge collapsed around 7:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. EDT) about 40 miles from the border with Arkansas. Lt. Chris West of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said emergency teams from across the region were responding to the scene.
I-40 is the major east-west route through Oklahoma. “This bridge carries all the traffic from Arkansas west,” said Sgt. Jarrett Johnson of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. “There are probably thousands of cars that travel over this bridge every day.”
Ched Wetz of the Muskogee Medical Center said four people had been brought to his facility, one in critical condition. Wetz said more patients were en route. The hospital in Muskogee is about 25 miles from the scene.
Wetz said one patient treated for facial injuries described what happened to him. “He told me he was driving along and the next thing he remembers he was in the water,” Wetz said. “He doesn’t remember how he got out. That’s all he remembers.”
One patient was in stable condition at a hospital in Sallisaw, a spokesman said.
Aerial views of the bridge showed four lanes of highway near the river bank leading at a 45-degree angle into the water. About 400 feet away, another four lanes of concrete road angled less steeply downward onto two barges, which were holding them up, held in place by a tug.
Heavy rains were pelting the area at the time of the bridge’s collapse, but they subsided soon afterward, said Rebecca Smith, a spokeswoman for Muskogee County Emergency Medical Services.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman said it was working to reduce flow in the river to aid in the rescue and recovery effort.
Authorities were interviewing the captain of the barge to determine what happened, Johnson said.
The barge was equipped to carry oil but was empty, said Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management. The barge appeared to have suffered little damage, and no one aboard was injured, Smith said.
Webbers Fall Mayor Jewell Horn said that eight to 10 vehicles were in the water. “But we’re really not sure of the count there,” Horn said.
“I’m sure it probably was an accident, but we know nothing,” she added. “All we’re trying to do is rescue these people right now.”
Webbers Fall City Hall opened to aid in the rescue effort, she said. “We’re doing all we can do right at the present time.”
The U.S. Coast Guard had a cutter on the scene by late morning and was sending a strike team of about 15 people trained in pollution and disaster response, said Cmdr. Jim McPherson.
Johnson said Department of Transportation engineers were checking another bridge on U.S. 64 near Webbers Falls.
“We’ll be trying to divert traffic onto that highway,” he said. “We’re just checking to make sure it was not damaged as well.”
The incident occurred above a popular fishing and boating area, and people who were fishing off the bank below the bridge alerted authorities to the collapse, Smith said.
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let us see how many guppies will be affecting while returning from thier long weekend, due to a major interstat collapse!
AB
[This message has been edited by Aawara Baadal (edited May 26, 2002).]