With the evening rush hour

News of the Year: August 2007 | Mark Bergin

The Mississippi River bridge collapse in Minneapolis claimed 13 lives on August 1

With hundreds of cars per minute streaming across the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, the main spans of the 40-year-old, eight-lane structure inexplicably gave way. The collapse sent cars and people plummeting as much as 116 feet to the streets and river below, claiming 13 lives and traumatizing dozens more.

From a partially submerged snarl of broken concrete and twisted steel, stories of near-death escapes and harrowing rescues emerged. A school bus packed full with 60 children on the way home from a field trip fell from the bridge but providentially came to rest right-side-up on land. The children suffered only minor injuries.

Citizen Good Samaritans who witnessed the disaster rushed in to help survivors, some of whom had fallen into the water's strong current. Onlookers carried one man confined to a wheelchair from his perilously positioned van to the safety of the riverbank. Others assisted drivers who had come to a stop on treacherously steep angles of collapsed roadway.