The construction company that built the now-collapsed pedestrian bridge at Florida International University quietly deleted its three social media accounts in the wake of last Thursday’s fatal accident.
Munilla Construction Management’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages were nowhere to be found on the Internet on Monday afternoon.
The company’s website contains a statement expressing its condolences and adding that it has maintained a positive reputation during its 35 years of business.
“Our family’s thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. The new University City Bridge, which was under construction, experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life,” Munilla said in a statement issued Thursday evening. “We will conduct a full investigation to determine what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way.”
The 950-ton bridge was determined in the days before the collapse to have cracks in the concrete, but action to block off that block of Southwest Eighth Street were never taken.
The first lawsuit against the project’s overseers was filed Monday by Marquise Rashaad Hepburn, who said he was “seriously injured” due to negligence by builders.
Hepburn is pressing charges against FIGG Bridge Engineers; the design team Munilla Construction Management; consulting engineer Bolton Perez & Associates; independent peer reviewer Louis Berger; and Network Engineering Services.
Six people were killed and 10 others wounded when the 175-foot-long footbridge unexpectedly collapsed onto eight lanes of traffic Thursday afternoon.
