Page 6 - aruba-today-20180317

A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 17 March 2018

Student watched helplessly as bridge came down on top of car

ered at the university, long- "I want people to know Al-
ing and praying for mira- exa was one of the down-
cles as authorities tried to right sweetest girls. People
get inside the crushed cars should cherish every mo-
still pinned under slabs of ment you have with your
the bridge. friends, because you don't
Once he realized he was know when it's going to be
alive, Humble also realized the last time."
that he could not get to While families waited for
Duran. He called to her but word on their loved ones,
got no response. A group investigators sought to un-
of men outside the car derstand why the 950-ton
started yelling at him to try bridge gave way during
crawling through the rear construction. The cables
window. supporting the span were
He made his way into the being tightened following
back seat but couldn't a "stress test" when it col-
squeeze through because lapsed, authorities said.
the window was crushed. "This is a tragedy that we
The men outside grabbed don't want to re-occur any-
a wooden plank and pried where in the United States,"
open the rear door to pull said Juan Perez, director
him free, he said. of the Miami-Dade police.
Workers stand next to a section of a collapsed pedestrian bridge, Friday, March 16, 2018 near "I was trying to get people "We just want to find out
Florida International University in the Miami area. The new pedestrian bridge that was under con-
struction collapsed onto a busy Miami highway Thursday afternoon, crushing vehicles beneath to realize my friend was still what caused this collapse
massive slabs of concrete and steel, killing and injuring several people, authorities said. in there," he said. to occur and people to
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) Rescue workers sent him die." Detectives declared
away in an ambulance. He the rubble a homicide
By ADRIANA LICON University, was riding in a Friday in a phone interview suffered cuts to his leg from scene, and the National
JENNIFER KAY car under the pedestrian with The Associated Press. glass and a slight fracture Transportation Safety Board
MIAMI (AP) — A college bridge when he heard a The falling concrete has to a vertebra, but he was arrived to investigate.
student who narrowly es- long creaking noise com- already claimed six lives, able to walk away from the Scheduled to open in 2019,
caped from a car that got ing from the structure that and rescuers kept looking scene. the bridge would have pro-
smashed by a collapsing spanned a busy Miami- for bodies in the ruins of He described Alexa as one vided safe passage over a
bridge said he watched area highway. It sounded the structure, including that of his best friends. They met canal and six lanes of traf-
helplessly as the structure different from anything he of the young woman who at a mixer hosted by his fic and created a show-
tumbled down on top of had ever heard before. was at the wheel, Alexa fraternity and her sorority, piece architectural feature
the vehicle and killed the "I looked up, and in an in- Duran, whose family said and she had asked him to connecting the campus of
friend who was sitting next stant, the bridge was col- she was dead. a semi-formal dance. Florida International Univer-
to him in the driver's seat. lapsing on us completely. Relatives and friends of "That's when I saw a light sity with the community of
Richie Humble, who stud- It was too quick to do any- people still missing after in her, and we became Sweetwater, where many
ies at Florida International thing about it," Humble said Thursday's collapse gath- best friends," Humble said. students live.q

Homeless family of 4 found dead in parked van in California

By AMY TAXIN young children were found ing based on their initial "What is tragic about this The family had been dead
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. inside the white Honda van observations, Whitney said. is we have our special re- for at least two or three
(AP) — A homeless family outside a CVS store late Both children appeared sources teams that have days by the time police ar-
of four was found dead in- Thursday after a woman re- under the age of 2 and connections to different re- rived and the van was not
side a parked van that had ported a foul odor coming were still in diapers, he said. sources," Whitney said. "We running, Whitney said.
its windows covered with from the vehicle. The case comes as South- don't want these people A clerk at the CVS store
blankets and a sunshade "They were in pajamas and ern California grapples with living in their cars, and es- declined to comment ear-
at a Southern California sleeping gear and it looks a rise in homelessness amid pecially with small children. ly Friday. The strip mall —
strip mall in what authorities like they were all asleep in- soaring housing costs. We want them to be off the which also has a tea house,
suspect was a tragic case side the van," Whitney said. The family had been living streets for their own safety." shoe store, pizza shop and
of carbon monoxide poi- There were no signs of ob- in the van for some time Police declined to release mobile phone retailer — is
soning, police said Friday. vious trauma. The cause of and relatives were aware the names of the victims un- located at a busy intersec-
Garden Grove police Lt. death is still under investiga- of the situation but the til their identities were con- tion in the city of 175,000
Carl Whitney said a man, tion, but authorities suspect father did not seek help, firmed by Orange County people about 30 miles
a woman and their two carbon monoxide poison- Whitney said. Coroner investigators. southeast of Los Angeles.q