MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - A bridge carrying a four-lane state highway across the Mississippi river in central Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour on Wednesday, plunging cars and trucks into the river.

The bridge carrying Route 35W, which was under repair, buckled and fell into the river at about 6:10 p.m. CDT (2310 GMT), local media reported.

Witnesses said they heard a rumbling sound as the bridge collapsed into the river. Local media reported 20 to 30 injuries but initially no deaths.

"First I heard this huge roar," Leone Carstens, a nearby resident, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I was at my computer. Initially I thought, Wow was that an airplane?"

Television pictures showed sections of highway leading to the bridge had also collapsed, in places crushing cars and starting fires and trucks.

One witness said she saw people swimming in the water seeking safety.

Huge chunks of the bridge stuck at odd angles out of the river, in places surrounded by cars half submerged in the water.

A nursing supervisor at Hennepin county medical center interviewed by local WCCO radio said, "We have multiple patients. Some critical, some non-critical," he said. Asked if there were any deaths, he said: "Not that I know of."

The road was carrying bumper to bumper traffic when the 500-foot (160 metres) steel arch bridge collapsed. The bridge, built in 1967, was 64 feet above the river.

source-http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0140206320070802

Emergency workers are seen on the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis after it collapsed, sending numerous vehicles into the Mississippi River, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. The busy highway bridge that spans the Mississippi River just northeast of Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour Wednesday, sending dozens of cars, tons of concrete and twisted metal crashing into the water.

Vehicles frozen on a buckled section of the 35W bridge on the east bank of the Mississippi River.

Rescue boats and emergency vehicles converge on the site of a collapsed bridge over the Mississippi River 01 Aug in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At least nine people were killed after the bridge collapsed Wednesday, plunging cars and trucks together with massive chunks of concrete into the rushing waters, officials said

Did yu see the security camera capture the video live wen it happened ..man...

In pictures: Rescue workers on the remains of the bridge

NO, I don't sahayog

ONE MORE

here is the clip.

Some independent experts said the evidence of buckling indicates fatigue of the steel or a corrosion-related crack, which is common in older bridges and difficult to detect during inspections.

"The bridge must have been near a state of collapse for some time, and the construction might have contributed to its failure," said Zdenek Bazant, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University. Bazant said he suspects there may have been a hairline crack or fatigue in the steel joints near bridge supports, leading to the buckling.

He said bridge inspections are not nearly as complete or sophisticated as the inspections that aircraft undergo.

Other engineering experts said that the 1960s-design of steel-arched bridges did not contain structural redundancies, meaning that if one component fails, the whole structure is in jeopardy because the weight does not shift to other points on the bridge.

"We know that we would not build a bridge like this today," said Kent Harries, an assistant engineering professor at the University of Pittsburgh.