Two feared dead after overpass collapse in Canada

[IRiSHMaFIA]

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LAVAL, Quebec (AP) -- An overpass near Montreal collapsed Saturday, crushing two cars whose occupants were feared dead, authorities said. At least five people were injured.

Drivers on Highway 19 slammed on their brakes and watched in horror as the overpass slowly collapsed, sending cars plunging and crushing at least two vehicles.

Quebec provincial police did not confirm any deaths but spokeswoman Chantal Mackels said police believed it was unlikely that anyone in the two crushed cars survived.

"We watched the overpass slowly come down and two cars fell from it," witness Golda Simon told TVA network.

Manon Joly had just dropped her daughter off at dance school and was in her car about to drive onto Highway 19.

"I slowed down and then all of a sudden everything collapsed like a house of cards," she said. "There were three or four cars that plunged into the hole right in front of me."

Ambulances transported five people. Three were in critical condition including two suffering from head injuries.

Emergency workers had not yet reached people trapped under the wreckage, said Andre Champagne of ambulance service Urgence-Sante. The workers were trying to secure the site before attending to those trapped, he told The Associated Press.

"We know minutes are precious," Champagne said. "It takes a long time. These are heavy structures that have to be moved."

Mackels said three lanes of the overpass plus a pedestrian sidewalk collapsed onto Highway 19. She said four vehicles -- a motorcycle, two cars and a minivan -- were on the overpass at the time

The incident occurred before 1 p.m. One witness told TVA he noticed that the road sunk an inch or two when he traveled over the overpass minutes earlier and he called emergency dispatchers.

The collapse of the overpass woke up Jean-Nicolas Turcotte, who lives near the overpass.

"I was sleeping when the large crash woke me up. At first I thought it was an earthquake or an accident. I looked out the window and heard people screaming," Turcotte said. "And I saw large puffs of smoke rising."

Claude Canton was painting his house just off the highway when he heard a loud bang. He said he saw two cars that were stuck under rubble and one started to catch fire before police put it out with extinguishers.

Aerial helicopter shots showed two passenger cars and a van on their backs or on their sides over the wreckage of the collapsed overpass, blocking traffic for miles. Authorities closed the bridge connecting Laval with the island on Montreal.

The incident was similar to the 2000 collapse of an overpass, also in Laval north of Montreal, which killed one and injured two.

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It always shocks me to see any news about Canada on CNN.

It must have been terrifying for the people heading towards it when it happened.

I hope they were able to save the people trapped underneath, but it looks so bad I really doubt it.

[Gasman59]

How comes I only get a green screen ?????

[IRiSHMaFIA]

How comes I only get a green screen ?????

What browser are you using? If it's firefox you might need plugins.

[Skylace]

I hope that they can save everyone. This is terrible.

[fritz]

This is a terrible accident.My heart goes out to families of those who died or was injured.So unexpected and so tragic

[eefanincan]

The sad part of this is that the police had notified Transport Quebec twice that morning of structural concerns regarding the overpass. Transport Quebec checked it out 10 minutes prior to the collapse and felt that it was ok to drive on. Guess they were wrong.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

I was speaking to a friend of mine last night about this. He said they might find it was built with faulty cement and maybe due to the Bloc Quebecios hiring companies tied to the mob to build it.

Apparently an investigation found that this political party had hired a company to build the Olympic Stadium in Quebec and it collapsed, and it was found that they used cheap cement that was sand based to build it to save the government money and to fill the pockets of the mob.

I don't really know how true that might be, but I reckon anything's possible since most governments are dodgy.

It's pretty pathetic it was reported to be unstable looking yet Transport Quebec gave it the thumbs up. I hope they get their arses sued off, although that doesn't bring these poor people back.

[faceless]

it was found that they used cheap cement that was sand based

Well all concrete is cement and sand based, it's all down to the ratios. Sand is cheaper than cement of course, so they just make a less strong bond using more sand. I'm sure you already knew that basic idea, I just wanted to show off my building knowledge in a purely pedantic way!

[eefanincan]

I just wanted to show off my building knowledge in a purely pedantic way!

I am suitably impressed!

I think what Irish means though is that the cement was more sand than anything else.