A snow-covered bridge in Pittsburgh collapsed early Friday morning, hours before President Joe Biden paid a visit to the city to deliver a speech on infrastructure.
Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed on Twitter that three people have been transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following a collapse of the Forbes Avenue bridge. Photos shared of the collapse show several cars, including a bus, on the collapsed portion of the roadway that is covered in a sheet of snow and ice.
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A spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Public Safety told the Washington Examiner there were 10 victims total, all of whom had “non-life-threatening injuries,” and “around four vehicles, including a city bus,” were involved in the collapse. Fire Chief Darryl Jones said they “extricated” everybody out of the scene.
Jones said the collapse also caused a “massive gas leak” that is now under control.
Officials said on Twitter that Urban Search and Rescue was deployed “to ensure there are no victims under the collapsed bridge.”
— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) January 28, 2022
The Red Cross was also contacted for victim assistance, officials said just before 8 a.m.
Biden made an unscheduled visit to the site of the collapse on Friday afternoon prior to his scheduled event to talk about infrastructure.
“We have been so far behind on infrastructure for so many years it’s just mind-boggling,” Biden told elected officials and first responders on the scene, according to CBS News. “We used to be No. 1 in the world.”
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman told CNN’s John Berman he had driven across the bridge “thousands of times” and that the damage was “surreal.” Fetterman, who was at the scene, said the schools were on a two-hour delay for weather, so the damage was mitigated by there being less traffic than usual.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf posted on Twitter that he was “monitoring the situation in Pittsburgh and prepared to provide support as needed.”
The cause of the collapse is under investigation, according to a statement from the city.
