Five Victims Identified in Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

Two more cars were removed from the rubble near Florida International University Saturday, allowing officials to identify more victims and families to begin processing the loss of their loved ones.Police said that Rolando Fraga-Hernandez, Oswald Gonzalez, Alberto Arias and Navarro Brown were among those killed when a 950-pound pedestrian bridge collapsed near the university on March 15. NBC 6 was able to independently confirm on Friday that Alexa Duran was also killed in the incident. 2 Cars, 3 Bodies Extracted From Under Fallen Pedestrian Bridge “My niece is still in her vehicle, one of the last ones to get out,” said Joe Smitha, Alexa Duran’s uncle.Duran’s uncle says nothing will bring his niece back but now his grief has turned to anger, and he is demanding answers from those involved. Engineer Left Voicemail About Cracks in Bridge Before Collapse “It’s too late for my niece. It’s too late for the other family’s children who were lost in there. I want people to step up and say ‘hey, I was the one responsible.’ Come out of the shadows. Where are you people? This was a colossal failure of the system and this was complete incompetence from the top down,” said Smitha.The FIU freshman and political science major was driving under the bridge when the bridge came crashing down on her Toyota SUV. Her passenger somehow survived the wreckage.Others were distraught as they waited at the family reunification center on Saturday.Police said Arias, 53, was the driver of a white Chevy truck pulled from the wreckage on Saturday.“He went out of his way to help anybody. He was a business owner and he just took a lot of pride in his work and family,” said Ismael Segovia, his cousin.Relatives say Arias was helping his mother move. His friend and passenger, Oswald Gonzalez, also died from the impact.Brown, 37, was working on site when the bridge collapsed.Fraga–Hernandez’s gold Jeep Cherokee was tragically pinned underneath the weight of the concrete.Chaplains were on site trying to console families during those tough times.“I think people are in shock and some of them are in shock, some want to cry, some are too emotional to even cry. It’s pent up in there because of the unknown about where that family member may be,” said Thomas Hanlon, a chaplain.Officials continue to work to extract six remaining cars at the scene. Authorities are working to identify any remaining victims to give families closure as they prepare burials for their loved ones.
Source: NBC San Diego