Navy Divers Describe Dangers At Minneapolis Bridge

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The divers who recovered eight bodies from the Mississippi River amid the wreckage of the Interstate 35W bridge were able to see an arm's length in front of their helmets _ on a

Wednesday, August 22nd 2007, 7:55 pm

By: News On 6

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The divers who recovered eight bodies from the Mississippi River amid the wreckage of the Interstate 35W bridge were able to see an arm's length in front of their helmets _ on a good day. So by the time they saw one of the myriad hazards in the debris-laden water, they were practically on top of it.

``Sharp metal, twisted steel. Anybody could be sliced open by anything down there,'' said Diver 1st Class Brian Bennett.

Likewise, when they found what they were looking for, it was up close _ a jarring sight even for a team used to tough jobs.

``You don't get a warning when you're coming up on a victim with that kind of visibility,'' Bennett said. ``It shocks you. You've got to step back, take a few deep breaths and get back to work.''

Some of the 24 Navy divers spoke Wednesday for the first time about the two weeks they spent gingerly searching the dark waters where the bridge collapsed Aug. 1, killing 13 people. The last body of those known to be missing was found Monday.

Wearing lead-weighted rubber boots, leather gloves and a protective layer over their wet suits, the divers worked in teams of two. One moved debris, using hydraulic tools to perform jobs such as opening up a crushed car to check for bodies. The other diver handed over tools and stood watch in case anything went wrong.

``The concrete covers up everything, and (it's) very heavy. You don't know what's stable and what's not,'' Bennett said.

Divers had to fight the current, working with the lock and dam operator upstream to control the river's flow.

None of the divers was seriously hurt, although four got chemical burns from gasoline that leaked from submerged vehicles, Bennett said.

The divers most often are assigned to repair ships or submarines or recover crashed aircraft. But Navy divers also worked in the New Orleans area after Katrina, and at the site of the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, N.Y.

Diver Clarence Allen called working at the collapse site a privilege.

``This is our job, this is what we do, and we're good at it. So it was like, 'OK, let's go to work,''' he said. ``To bring some closure to the families meant a lot to all of us.''

Also Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety board said it has interviewed more than 300 witnesses to the Interstate 35W bridge collapse and calculated the weight of construction equipment on the bridge when it fell. It did not indicate whether investigators were any closer to determining a cause for the collapse, but such probes typically take several months.

The update also said investigators are looking at a de-icing system installed on the bridge in 1997 _ other official reports on the bridge said it was installed in 1999 _ and whether the chemicals used had any corrosive properties.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation wasn't concerned about the de-icing system used on the 35W bridge _ in fact, the agency is planning to install a similar system on the failed bridge's replacement, said Khani Sahebjam, the engineer for MnDOT's Metro District.

Sahebjam said he wouldn't expect the de-icing system to pose a structural problem ``because those are elements up inside the concrete deck,'' not part of the support structure below.

The automated system was triggered by weather conditions and kept MnDOT from having to send crews to spread de-icing chemicals, Sahebjam said.

A resurfacing project was under way when the bridge collapsed. Through interviews with construction workers and delivery truck drivers, the NTSB has calculated there were 575,000 pounds, or 287.5 tons, of construction materials and equipment on the bridge when it fell.

It was not clear from the update what significance the NTSB put on the weight. A call to the agency was not immediately returned.

State Transportation Department construction engineer Liz Benjamin said the process followed by Progressive Contractors Inc. to resurface the bridge was normal. She referred questions about the weights to state bridge engineers, who didn't immediately return a message.

``As far as storing materials on the bridge, that is normal when we do a bridge overlay,'' Benjamin said. ``The bridge designers come up with a plan for us to follow, and that's what we follow.''

NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said in a news release that the board was making sure that debris removal doesn't destroy parts of the bridge that need to be examined. He said investigators in Washington are also sifting through bridge debris.

The NTSB said it expects to have investigators at the scene until November.