Two bodies recovered from US bridge collapse

MINNEAPOLIS  (AFP) - Two bodies were found Thursday in the wreckage of a bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi river more than a week ago, raising to seven the death toll from the accident in the northern US state of Minnesota.

At least six more people -- including a pregnant woman and her toddler -- are still missing and presumed dead from the accident in the northern US state of Minnesota.
One of the bodies recovered shortly after noon was identified as Peter Joseph Hausmann, of Reosemount, Minnesota, the local medical examiner's office said.

The second body has not yet been officially identified, the Hennepin County sheriff's office said.
Dive crews continue to search the wreckage as the debris is slowly cleared away. Investigators said Wednesday they had identified a possible design flaw in the gusset plates, which help tie steel beams together.

The National Transportation Safety Board has also found several fractures in the bridge superstructure "but nothing that looked to be the initiating location."
The collapse of the eight-lane bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota August 1 drew fresh calls for a major overhaul of aging US infrastructure, with experts saying billions had to be spent to bring standards into line.

Officials had warned as early as 1990 that the bridge, which bears more than 140,000 vehicles a day, had serious structural problems.
The American Society of Civil Engineers warned in a report two years ago that between 2000 and 2003, more than 27 percent of the nation's almost 600,000 bridges were rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

The White House has initiated a review of the nation's state-based bridge inspection program but rejected calls for a gasoline tax to pay for infrastructure improvements.