Inspections Underway Following Deadly Weekend Overpass Collapse

Survivors were still rattled and neighbours and friends of the dead remained in a state of shock following the collapse of a highway overpass that killed five people in Laval, Que on Saturday.

 

Six others were taken to hospital – among them a woman named Anne-Marie. She and her boyfriend, Robert Hotte, had been out shopping for a carpet and were crossing the overpass when a 20-metre section of the concrete gave way.

 

“I was wondering what the… what is happening,” Hotte said Sunday.

 

“We went down, falling with the bridge. It was all dark. … It was like being on a roller-coaster.”

 

Hotte wasn’t seriously injured, but Anne-Marie will remain in Montreal’s Sacre-Coeur hospital

“I’ve only got bruises on my forehead and some pain in the chest,” he said.

 

Rescue workers spent 15 hours breaking up chunks of the concrete in order to reach the vehicles below. Quebec provincial police have since identified three of the dead as: Jean-Pierre Hamel, 40, his partner Sylvie Beaudet, 44, and his brother, 44-year-old brother, Gilles. They were all residents of Laval, and Hamel and Beaudet leave behind an eight-year-old son.

 

Neighbours of the family were shocked by what transpired.

 

“It’s very tragic. It’s very difficult for the family. We’re close to them, and as you’ll understand.It’s very difficult,” said one friend.  

 

“Always happens something bad to the good people,” another adds.

 

The accident also caused commuter chaos.  

 

Special shuttle buses were set up for the approximately 57,000 commuters affected by the closure Monday, but many appeared to be driving instead.

 

Some residents reportedly got up two hours early to prepare for a longer than usual drive to work. There are three major routes into Montreal from Laval.

 

Traffic on alternate routes was backed up for several kilometres at the height of rush hour.

 

Meanwhile, provincial police investigators were going to be back at the scene of the collapse Monday along with engineers. They’ll also be checking out 20 other bridges and overpasses for potential weaknesses.

 

Provincial transit officials have said 2,200 of Quebec’s 4,900 bridges will need work within the next five years.

On Sunday, Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced a public inquiry into the fatal accident, which he called “inexplicable.” It will be headed up by former premier Pierre-Marc Johnson.

 

It’s the second time an overpass has collapsed in the Laval area in the past six years. A man died in 2000 when a section of overpass under construction fell on the car he was travelling in.

 

A coroner’s report concluded the construction company didn’t properly secure several concrete beams and accused the province’s construction industry of poor work and questionable practices.