Tragedy struck in Missouri when one person died, and at least three more were injured after a bridge, still under construction, collapsed in Kearney on Wednesday, October 26.
The Clay County Sheriff’s office said the bridge, located at Northeast 148th Street, collapsed at around 1:45 pm.
Mike Wilson, the Digital Communications Coordinator for Clay County, said the bridge collapsed while the construction workers poured concrete on the bridge’s deck, which was almost complete.
The bridge caved in on top of the workers, and rescue efforts started. Three surviving victims were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment after rescuers found an opening and were able to get them out from under the rubble.
Authorities have not publicly identified the deceased victim.
According to the Sheriff’s office, there had been no indication that the bridge had any structural issues before it collapsed. The Clay County Highway Department said that it did not have any previous safety concerns about the project and that it had deployed an engineering contractor to the scene earlier in the day to inspect its progress before the workers started pouring concrete on the bridge.
The bridge was one of two currently being constructed in the county, and it spans from Carroll Creek to Shady Grove Road just outside of Kearney.
Lehman Construction was the company contracted to build the bridge. The government had hired them to build a superstructure slab bridge.
The project cost about $1.41 million and was funded through a shared partnership between Clay County and the National Government. Construction started in 2021 and was expected to end in 2023.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which had previously fined Lehman Construction in 2019 for violating safe working conditions, will investigate the circumstances that led to the bridge’s collapse.
The Sheriff’s office said it would turn the investigations over to the safety administration.
