A rush-hour crawl that gave vehicles little momentum to slide into the river and a bridge design that minimised falling debris appear to have kept the death toll relatively low in the collapse of a bridge into the Mississippi River.

US President George Bush plans to visit the site of a bridge collapse in Minneapolis today after Congress voted to direct $250m (€181m) for the structure to be rebuilt.

Fears that an interstate bridge collapse in Minnesota might produce dozens of deaths eased today as US authorities said the number of missing, once thought to be as many as 30, was just eight.