So, theyre aware of this incident at this point. They working the phones, literally, to speak to the folks there on the ground in miami to determine if they will officially launch to investigate exactly what caused this bridge to collapse. Again, this bridge installed just on saturday. This is certainly in the jurisdiction of the ntsb. Just a reminder when the bridge collapsed in minnesota, they launched to investigate that. If they do make the determination that this is something that they will investigate, there will be a number of issues that they will be delving into. Specifically, obviously, the structure of this bridge, how it was constructed, how it was built and were there any faulty parts . Was it built in such a way to handle whatever the load factor was on this bridge . All questions that investigators will go in with. But, again, at this hour obviously, this is all unfolding right now. So, a determination as far as whether they will launch has not been reached yet because they are actually working to figure that all out in real time as i speak to you. But itst certainly is a possibility this would fall in their purview as far as the ntsb goes. Thank you, rene marsh. Stand by. I want to welcome in our viewers in the u. S. And around the world as we are now in the 3 00 hour. Tragedy on the campus of Florida International university, in miami, florida. You can see this pedestrian bridge that has collapsed, crushing five or six cars underneath, according to local officials there. There are multiple fatalities. Officials right now working to secure the bridge as well as trying to get to any patients who may still be trapped underneath and needing help. I want to bring in our producer who has just arrived on the scene of this bridge collapse in miami. Walk us through what youre learning, what youre seeing. Were here in west miami, fiu campus. 40,000 students. Its quite fortunate that the school was in break. Im on the west side of the bridge on 8th street, major thoroughfare, three lanes divided road here. The bridge has fully collapsed. On one side i see rebar sticking out of the white bridge. First responders continue to arrive here. Weve seen some earthmoving equipment coming in as well, heavy construction equipment, possibly signifying a longer rescue. What concerns me the most is what im seeing now which is lighting equipment, which may signify this will be a longterm search and rescue operation. Were still trying to work to figure out when this bridge exactly came down and what may be the cause. The focus being on saving any potential patients who may be trapped in the rubble. Were hearing from the Governors Office who is planning to fly to Florida International university this evening. The mayor of this area, for miamidade, he is actually in china right now. We just got word he, too, has been briefed on what is happening and what is beginning to be probably a lengthy investigation. I want to bring in andy herman, who can help us understand what happened, perhaps. He is the past president of the American Society of civil engineers. Andy, a lot we dont know. What we do know is that this bridge was new. In fact, we heard from a student that it, perhaps, hadnt even opened yet. It was meant to be a Pedestrian Crossing to connect one neighborhood with the campus and allow people to safely cross what is a very busy avenue. Eighth avenue there. This was a Rapid Construction process. They designed the majority of the bridge and hoisted it up in one days time and put it on some pillars. What do you make of what youre seeing right now . Thank you for having me on. Im watching cnn right now. I see the bridge on the roadway and what youre saying is it sounded like they were using abc or accelerated bridge construction, a technique thats been developed over the last number of years, to have less disruption to traffic while theyre building a bridge. Through most of the construction offsite or very near to the site. As it gets completed, they can can just do minimal time to lift it up and over the existing roadway or waterway theyre dealing with, to minimize traffic construction. I see a large crane there. I think i heard on one of the earlier reports it was just lifted into place saturday. So, not knowing whats going on with either the construction techniques or the engineering design, that will all have to be looked at in the coming days and weeks. I want to show viewers video of this bridge before the collapse video. On the right side of the screen, this video was taken days ago. It was nighttime, obviously. Pictures from the miami herald. You see part of the process of them installing this bridge, you described a rapid installation, accelerated. I cant recall the phrase that you used. Is this a common practice in order to, like you said, minimize the impact to traffic in that area . Accelerated bridge construction or abc bridge construction is used quite extensively in the united states. Its been used a lot across the country. What would be your first question in an investigation as to what may have went wrong . The first question would be to look at what went on in the construction. Was the bridge properly shored and braced as they put it into place and as they released the crane . That would be the first thing to look at in terms of the construction. You also have to go back and look at thestein and the intermediate steps and stresses in the bridge during the e erecti erection. I imagine there are checks and balances along the way in making sure that the safety and the integrity of the bridge is just right before it is opened to the public. What is the inspection process like . Generally a lot of bridge inspectors are on site to review the construction techniques, make sure theyre putting it together in the right sequence. They also have what they call shop drawings and shop procedures where they look step by step the procedures to build the bridge in pieces and put it together and eventually erect it up in place. I look at the picture on the left of this bridge that has collapsed it looks like it is largely still intact. Although you do see a few places where there was some buckling. Our understanding is that this was a 950ton span that was one big chunk that initially when it was installed, it was picked up, moved and simply lowered into place by some of the cranes when they put this in on saturday. Apparently the design is such that it isnt meant to break into pieces when Something Like this happens . No, no. Its interesting. As they build the bridge, they not only have to take into account the final location and the final supports that hold it up but also the temporary supports because the bridge is in a different loading condition as theyre erecting the bridge. Theres a number of things that have to be looked at, the initial erection and the final conditions. Would you be worried about the Structural Integrity now as First Responders are trying to get to people trapped underneath, what are the challenges in making sure that theyre not doing more harm in trying to save people . They have experts there. Someone said earlier its similar to earthquake damage. When theyre lifting individual pieces of the bridge, they have to make sure they maintain the integrity so it doesnt crumble and further anyone underneath t. How has Construction Technology changed over years on a bridge like this . In the past they may have constructed it in place with multiple shorings but that disrupts traffic and causes a lot of detours. Abc, accelerated bridge construction, can minimize disruption to the traffic underneath. Thats an advance. It started out, i believe, in utah. Departments of transportation used it out there. Its been advocated across the country as a better way to do construction in terms of minimizing disruption to traffic. Andy herrman, former president of the American Society of civil engineers, thank you very much for your time and expertise in helping to shed some light on what may have gone wrong here in miami, florida, where this pedestrian bridge collapsed, trapping people underneath, crushing several cars and killing multiple people, according to the florida Highway Patrol. Well take a quick break. Much more when we come back. Well be talking with additional witnesses from the scene. Youre here on cnn. Stay with us. I thought i was managing my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. But i realized something was missing. Me. The thought of my symptoms returning was keeping me from being there for the people and things i love most. So, i talked to my doctor and learned humira can help get, and keep,uc under control when other medications havent worked well enough. And it helps people achieve control that lasts so you could experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. Anncr as you grow older, your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. Learning from him is great. When i can keep up anncr thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. Dads got all the answers. Anncr prevagen is now the numberoneselling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. She outsmarts me every single time. Checkmate you wanna play again . Anncr prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Youre watching cnn following breaking news on this day, sad day in miami, florida, right now. Several people are dead after this bridge came crumbling down, collapsing on a busy avenue on the campus of Florida International university. Local officials are telling us several people are dead and multiple cars are crushed right now underneath that bridge. First responders are on scene currently working to secure the rest of that bridge, the structure, as they try to respond to the patients who may be trapped underneath. Joining us right now is a witness, somebody who saw this bridge collapse. Lionel collins, thank you for joining us. First, i can only imagine what youre feeling and what youre thinking right now. I appreciate you taking a moment to go through what you saw with us. Tell me about what you saw and what you can share. Thank you. I am pretty shaken. I was just about to make a right turn, a if you seconds before the bridge and the whole thing really just came down. After the whole thing broke, i was freaking out. I got out of my car and me and a few other people were sprinting over there. We started helping people whose cars were at least half crushed and whoever was easily saved. But we couldnt really go under any of the rubble because at the time, the bridge the other half of the bridge is still kind of leaning upward right now. That was also looking like that would slip and fall. Somebody we helped said his family was inside and we couldnt help get them out. Im sorry. Im still shaken right now. Its understandable. Take a deep breath. What you describe sounds frightening. It was. You talked about seeing people underneath and trying to help get people out who were trapped. Do you have any idea just how many people were in this area and were impacted by this bridge collapse . No. It was a lot more than i thought it was. When i first saw the bridge come down i only saw two cars. I was on the left side, east side of the bridge. But after i ran over there, i saw two trucks actually completely crushed and then there were a few in the back on the other side of the bridge that i couldnt or we couldnt get to. Some other people had to help. We only had access to two on the front. A big question is, obviously, what was the imp tus, what made it collapse . Did you see anything that would give you a clue as to what brought it down . Was there an accident, for example . Did somebody run into the side of the bridge . Any idea . No. I have no clue. It really was just like another day. I drove under this bridge several times already and just out of the blue it came down. Lynell, what more could you tell us about the bridge . I understand it was just installed a few days ago. Yeah. Everybody talking about it thought maybe it came up too fast, was too agile and maybe they should have taken more time. I dont know much about building bridges but i cant say for sure that the construction workers around it were looking extremely upset about the fact that the bridge came down. They were pissed. They were pissed that the bridge came down. They were already counting their losses. This was still an active construction scene is what youre telling me . Yeah, it was. Nobody walked across that brinl. Are you a student on the campus . No. No, im not a student. I understand that this is a very busy avenue. That was one of the reasons for installing this bridge, to make it easy access for pedestrians to be able to connect their community to the campus. There are thousands of students, im told, who live in the Sweetwater Community who go to Florida International university. Is this a road that you travel frequently . Describe for me this area. Yeah. I do travel it frequently. Maybe the bridge was built too fast. Im not sure. I still think the bridge is a great idea. Crossing the street here, something always going on, people are always speed iing ov here. The bridge, i thought, would be safe for crossing the street. In all seriousness, ooirm always scared when crossing the street here. Lynell collins, wish you the best. Thank you for spending time with us. Thank you. Have a good day. You, too. Lets bring in jonathan nunez, another person who witnessed the bridge collapse. Jonathan, are you there . Yes, im here. Thank you for joining us. What did you see . What did you hear . So i was under the bridge 30 seconds to a minute before it collapsed. Me and my girlfriend were coming on to campus so i could speak to a professor. We took a right turn on 109th avenue. We turned right underneath the bridge and turned into the parking garage that borders the bridge. As i was driving around, looking for parking, we both heard a large bang. We thought i had hit something so i parked and looked around the car and realized i didnt hit anything. I started to walk to campus. She stayed in the car. And as i started to walk to campus i heard people screaming and i saw police cars, Campus Police cars leaving from the first floor of the parking garage next door. Those where the Campus Police department is. I saw them going toward the intersection. At this point i couldnt see the bridge. I thought it was a car accident. Like you probably know that intersection is very busy. And there have been many car accidents, fatalities from students being struck. Thats why they built the bridge. I thought it was a car accident. I was nowhere near the bridge. I was already walking to campus. And my girlfriend called me and said something is going on. Im going to go see whats up. She walked over and maybe 20 seconds later she called me almost crying saying jonathan, the bridge collapsed. At that point, i was just walking into my professors office and told him, you know, the bridge collapsed, weve got like lets go. We both started running over to the intersection. At that point, there were cops securing the intersection. Ems just started to arrive. A construction worker who was obviously hurt. I dont know how close to the bridge he was when it came down but he was obviously hurt. There were doctors from the medical school on campus who came over, you know, in their white coats and talking to Police Officers and they immediately ran to the scene. To try to figure out who they could immediately get to. There was police around the rubble. There was construction workers walking around. It was a chaotic scene. Nobody knew exactly what to do. I was there maybe three minutes after it happened. What time of day was that . Maybe 1 45, 1 50. Probably around 1 50. It was just chaotic. I saw right. One woman who was a nurse, who was in her scrubs sitting near the sidewalk. She was in one of the cars that were struck. Police officers carried her off the scene. At that point, ems started to arrive. And they secured the construction worker who was hurt, put him on a stretcher and took him away. We could hear more ambulances coming. By that time, helicopters were already in the air. It was just a chaotic scene. Jonathan, you witnessed so much. I imagine youre still just trying to process what you experienced. Right now were looking at a couple of different images. One obviously an aerial, overhead shot of that scene where we see a plethora of emergency crews and personnel on scene. Last check they were still working to secure the rest of that bridge and then working to help those patients who may be injured. Several people confirmed dead with multiple cars crushed underneath. From ground level on the right side of your screen you can see additional shots there. Is an all handsobject deck approach. Were hearing from the Bridge Construction Company that just tweeted this, our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this tragedy. The new University City bridge which was under construction experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life. Mcm is a Family Business and were all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way. Well take a quick break here on cnn as we continue to follow this breaking news right now out of miami, florida, on the campus of Florida International university where a pedestrian bridge just recently installed collapsed on a busy avenue with multiple people trapped underneath and multiple people already confirmed dead. Stay with us in the cnn newsroom. Heyim craving somethingkin were missing. The ceramides in cerave. They help restore my natural barrier, so i can lock in moisture. And keep us protected. Weve got to have each others backs. And fronts. Cerave. What your skin craves. Looking for a h