Witnesses to Thursday’s deadly collapse of a newly installed pedestrian bridge at Florida International University in Miami recounted a “terrible” scene that left cars crushed like “sardine cans.”
Officials have confirmed that four died and at least 10 others have been hospitalized, two with critical injuries.
Lianet Sado, who owns a restaurant near the site of the collapse, told Fox News’ Shepard Smith that she saw a bloodied child begging for help from a flattened vehicle.
“There was a car that was completely crushed on the front part, so it was very safe to assume, unfortunately, that the driver and co-pilot were both crushed completely,” Sado said. “But then there was this young boy in the back of the car, full of blood, and basically begging for someone to help him. And that’s something I’m not going to be able to get out of my head because I’m a mother of a kid, too.”
Sado said the police quickly moved her away from the scene.
The eight cars crushed by the bridge resembled “sardine cans,” Sado added.
“It’s basically like getting a Coca-Cola can and throwing a 57-pound rock on top of that Coca-Cola can until it becomes nothing.”
Survivor is spared by @FIU bridge collapse. @MiamiHerald pic.twitter.com/I0LlLhSHhv
— Monique O. Madan (@MoniqueOMadan) March 15, 2018
“Those cars — if you see them from in front, it’s basically like getting a Coca-Cola can and throwing a 57-pound rock on top of that Coca-Cola can until it becomes nothing,” she said.
Another witness described initial efforts by bystanders like Sado to help the wounded.
“I saw there were multiple cars crushed under the bridge,” Jacob Miller, a senior at FIU, told Fox’s KPTV. “It was just terrible. I saw some people stopping their cars, trying to get out, trying to assess the situation to see if there is anything they could do to help.”
Local police detective Juan Llera told the