Officials Agree That After Search & Rescue, Priority Is Finding Out What Caused Bridge Collapse
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A group of local and national officials held a press conference at Florida International University Thursday night following the deadly bridge collapse that has claimed at least four lives.
The pedestrian bridge, which had just been installed on Saturday, weighed 950 tons and was located at Southwest 109th Avenue and 8th Street.
Florida Governor Rick Scott explained that he had been briefed by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and other local law enforcement and elected officials.
"Everybody is working hard to make sure that we continue to rescue anyone that can be rescued," Scott said. "We're going to do everything we can to take care of the individuals. I've told everybody the state will provide whatever resources possible."
WATCH FLORIDA GOV. RICK SCOTT HERE
One thing that has been a constant throughout the day is the desire to find out exactly what caused this disaster.
"We all want to do our best to try to find out exactly what happened here," Scott said. "We will do that in a transparent manor and if anybody has done anything wrong we will hold them accountable."
Senator Marco Rubio calls South Florida home and has been a professor at FIU for a decade.
"For me personally, FIU is home," Rubio said. "I've been an adjunct professor here for 10 years; I know the tremendous amount of pride and excitement that exists about this project. Ironically it's a project designed for safety."
WATCH SEN. MARCO RUBIO HERE
Rubio brought up the student that died crossing eighth street last year and discussed how the bridge was built as "one of a kind" and unique to the school.
He said that both OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) will be conducting "an exhaustive review."
"We deserve to know and the public deserves to know and the families of those who have been hurt and who lost their lives deserve to know what went wrong," he said.
Gallery: Scene of the FIU Bridge Collapse
Rubio assured that the agencies investigating the collapse would get to the bottom of whatever caused the horrible accident.
"There will be an exhaustive review that will give details at an engineering and scientific level as to what the errors were and what led to this catastrophic collapse, of that you can rest assured," Rubio said.
As for the continuing rescue efforts, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Dave Downey explained that MDFR continues to operate in search and rescue mode.
WATCH MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE CHIEF DAVE DOWNEY HERE
He confirmed that there are four confirmed fatalities at this time.
"We are going to search this pile until we are sure there are no other survivors," Downey said.
Major Christopher Dellapietra with Florida Highway Patrol explained that the roadway will be shut down for an extended period of time.
WATCH FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL MAJOR CHRISTOPHER DELLAPIETRA HERE
"This is going to be a long and arduous investigation and we'd urge motorists to avoid traveling in the area of Southwest 8th Street. It will be closed from 107th Avenue to the east and 117th Avenue to the west until further notice."
Additionally, the Florida Turnpike exit ramp to Southwest 8th Street eastbound will also be closed.
Eventually, this will transition into a homicide investigation.
That's when the Miami-Dade Police Department will take over.
WATCH MIAMI-DADE POLICE CHIEF JUAN PEREZ HERE
"As this continues to progress throughout the evening, once this transitions over to the Miami-Dade Police Department to lead the efforts in the homicide investigation, we are prepared to do that," said MDPD Chief Juan Perez.
Perez thanked all the local agencies, both police and fire, for their help with the investigation so far.
