MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Friday marks one year since the pedestrian bridge collapse at Florida International University that claimed the lives of six people.
A service was held Friday afternoon at the Modesto A. Maidique Campus at 11200 SW Eighth St. -- the same place where families came that day to see if their loved ones were among the victims killed or injured in the collapse.
Concrete bases are all that's left standing a year after the bridge collapse.
The structure crumbled to the ground while traffic was stopped at a red light on Southwest Eighth Street.
Concrete came crashing down on cars while workers were standing on top of the bridge that connected FIU to the city of Sweetwater. One of the workers died in the collapse.
Five people who were waiting in their idling cars were also killed as the 174-foot concrete span buckled in a split second.
A moment of silence was held in the victims' honor at 1:47 p.m. on FIU's main campus to mark the tragedy.
The Graham Center bell rang six times -- once for each of the victims.
"It was just chaos and our officers and other responding agencies were just trying to do everything we (could) to get to those victims," weetwater police spokesman Jonathan Arche said about the day of the collapse.
As for what caused the bridge failure, the last report indicated design errors on the northernmost portion of the bridge were consistent with pictures that showed cracks in that area that may have contributed to the collapse.
The Miami-based contractor behind the pedestrian bridge, Manilla Construction Management, has since filed for bankruptcy protection, which allows the company to negotiate with creditors while it works to reorganize.
MCM is currently facing several lawsuits from survivors of the collapse and the families of the victims killed.
