Surveillance footage of the Florida International University bridge collapsing onto several cars in Miami was shared to social media Thursday night.
The video, which appeared to be filmed by someone looking at a screen playing the surveillance, was tweeted by Monique O. Madan, a Miami Herald news reporter, on Thursday evening.
The low-resolution footage shows the $14.2 million bridge suddenly breaking apart and collapsing on moving traffic early Thursday afternoon.
Here is the footage showing the #fiubridge collapse. @MiamiHerald pic.twitter.com/yTRlb8KGwt
— Monique O. Madan (@MoniqueOMadan) March 16, 2018
More than 400 users have shared the video at the time this article was published. "It happens so fast, absolutely no warning.... It just dropped. Terrifying," one person commented.
The new pedestrian bridge, which linked the university campus to the city of Sweetwater, collapsed at around 1:30 p.m. onto the busy Miami road below. The 950-ton bridge crushed several cars traveling under it when it gave way. People were also seen walking on top of it.
At least six people have been confirmed dead, and at least nine others have been recovered from the rubble and transported to Kendall Regional Medical Center.
Early Friday morning, authorities revealed that the search and rescue had turned into a search and recover. Officer Lee Cowart, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department, told local news outlets that rescuers didn't think they would find "anybody alive in there" at this point.
At a press conference Thursday, Marco Rubio, Florida's junior U.S. senator, said, "[The bridge was] going to be a signature project, one that people would identify with the school and this community, and one of a kind in terms of its engineering design.... To see it on the ground there today, and underneath it those who lost their lives as a result of this and those who have been injured, it's just so tragic."
He added, "The public deserves to know, and the families of those who have been hurt and lost their lives deserve to know, what went wrong."
President Donald Trump took to Twitter that evening to praise the "brave First Responders" and thank them for their courage.
Continuing to monitor the heartbreaking bridge collapse at FIU - so tragic. Many brave First Responders rushed in to save lives. Thank you for your courage. Praying this evening for all who are affected.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2018
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