Miami Bridge Collapse: 'No One’s Left'

MIAMI, FL — The grim task of unearthing victims of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse started early Saturday morning before the sun came up — first Rolando Fraga Hernandez' gold Jeep Cherokee, then a white Chevy Truck with 57-year-old Oswald Gonzalez and 53-year-old Alberto Arias. Then at 5:12 p.m. a gray Toyota 4Runner with FIU student Alexa Duran. A few hours later at 8:35 p.m. a White Ford F-250 was pulled from the massive 950 ton pile of rubble with 39-year-old Brendon Brownfield.

By late Saturday night, Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez was able to declare a bittersweet victory: "We’re pretty confident that no one’s left."

Specialists from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue worked "tirelessly" since cement and debris came raining down on eight vehicles that had simply stopped for a traffic light at 1:47 p.m. on Thursday along busy SW 8th Street during the university's spring break.

See also Miami Bridge Collapse: Engineer Didn't See Issue With Cracks and Miami Bridge Collapse Shifts From Rescue To Recovery

"That makes it a total of five people that were recovered from underneath the bridge," said Perez on Saturday night. "There was one individual that passed away at the hospital for a total of six people and I believe that is the final count. Although we expected that we may find more, thankfully we did not."

Miami-Dade police had officially released the names of all six victims killed in the tragedy as of Sunday night. Officials said that Navarro Brown died at Kendall Regional Medical Center shortly after the collapse of what was touted as a state-of-the-art structure.

The 174-foot main span of the bridge was lifted from its temporary supports, rotated 90 degrees across the eight-lane road and lowered into its permanent position "in a matter of hours" five days before it collapsed with a sudden boom. The bridge was intended to improve safety for the thousands of students who cross into the campus from the city of Sweetwater each day.

When the university's 54,000 students return on Monday, they will be asked to observe a moment of silence in honor of the six victims who lost their lives in the tragedy, including the 18-year-old Duran, whose father reportedly was traveling on a business trip to London when he got the news of his daughter's death.

A number of investigations are already underway to determine what caused the $14.2 million structure to fail and why traffic was permitted to travel under the bridge at the time it was undergoing work to tighten cables, according to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

The lead engineer working on the pedestrian bridge reported cracking to state transportation officials two days before the tragedy but felt that there was no safety issue. School officials also confirmed that a meeting was held hours before the collapse to "discuss a crack that appeared on the structure" but said that the meeting did not raise any red flags about an immediate danger to the public.

Perez has said that the victims were left in their vehicles as they were taken to the medical examiner's office "so that the victims can have some dignity as they are transferred from location to location prior to their families gaining control of them."

A moment of silence is observed as first responders recover bodies from the FIU bridge collapse. Photo courtesy Miami-Dade Police Department