Irish student lends helping hand after bridge collapse

Irish student Peter Friel was working just a quarter of a mile from the Minneapolis bridge over the Mississippi River when it collapsed during rush hour.

At least seven people died when the freeway bridge suddenly broke into huge sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River during rush-hour traffic jams.

As soon as they realised what had happened, UCD student Peter and his work colleagues rushed to the scene to dispense drinks to rescue crews and offer whatever other help they could.

Peter comes from Ballyshannon in Donegal and is working in Minneapolis on a J1 visa for the summer as a light mechanic in a petrol station near the bridge.

"We first heard a rumble and just thought it was thunder," Peter said today. "Then we heard fire engines and didn't think much of that either. I looked down the highway - in the wrong direction as it turned out - and didn’t see anything going on, but then someone shouted: 'The bridge has collapsed!'"

Peter and his co-workers shut up the petrol station, loaded a pick-up truck with ice and filled it with bottled water, Powerade energy drinks and Coke and rushed to the scene to hand it out to rescue workers.

"There were loads of us all hanging out of the truck on the way to the scene - everyone wanted to help out," he said.

Peter could see many other locals rushing to the scene with a similar idea - a local pizza company handed out pizzas while others made up sandwiches and were passing them round.

Peter and his co-workers drove their pick-up, lights flashing, as near to the scene as they could (about 50 yards from the collapsed bridge) and handed out drinks. "It's quite humid here and people get dehydrated very quickly," he said. They stayed on the scene for about three hours.

He said they could see the lights of divers in the water below as they searched for bodies and survivors.

"It was incredible," he said. "A train was going under the bridge at the time it collapsed and some of the bridge fell on one of the carriages. We've heard the carriage contained chemicals and they're very worried now that those might leak out.

"There were lots of cars still there - it's amazing how more of them didn't drive into the water."

Peter paid tribute to the rescue workers, saying they were in control and "taking it all in their stride".

Police officers were called in from surrounding counties and the rescue services brought temporary lighting and portaloos to the site "really quickly", he added.

Knowing his family would worry about him when they heard of the bridge collapse, he sent them text messages overnight to assure them he was safe.

Peter is working in the area since the start of June and plans to return home soon. He is studying business and law in UCD for the last four years.