Bridge collapse: Seconds separated those who lived and died

MIAMI – Mere seconds came between those who died and those who survived when a pedestrian bridge crumbled and fell atop motorists driving along a busy Miami highway late last week.

Six people died in the rubble of the collapsed bridge and those who survived Thursday’s ordeal gave harrowing accounts of what happened.

The drivers were out on the most ordinary of errands. A teenager was driving her friend to the doctor’s office to pick up some medicine. A father of three was heading home from work. A woman on her way to a nail salon was stopped at a red light.

The bridge plummeted onto the highway below, killing some and narrowly missing others. As investigators try to determine what caused the bridge to fall, survivors and grieving families of the dead are left to cope with their sudden and explicable loss.