MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Search crews Sunday pulled the body of a Minneapolis man from the Mississippi River, raising the death toll from the collapse of a highway bridge to 12.
The recovery of the body of Scott Sathers, 29, leaves Greg Jolstad, 45 -- a road construction worker from Mora, Minn. -- as the last person missing and presumed dead in the Aug. 1 collapse of the I35W bridge, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Also Sunday, the Star Tribune reported that plans were in place in December 2006 to undertake extensive work on the bridge, but were called off in a Jan. 17 conference call, when consultants cautioned against the project.
The bridge project was to involve weight restrictions for trucks and reinforcement plates to strengthen the bridge structure. However, the consultants told Minnesota Department of Transportation officials in January that drilling for the retrofit could weaken the bridge, the newspaper said.
"That was the turning point,” state bridge engineer Dan Dorgan told the Star Tribune.
Internal documents reviewed by the newspaper show that officials in 2006 discussed the possibility the bridge might collapse, and worried it might have to be condemned.
