Bridge Collapse Site Yields 3 Bodies : Death Toll Uncertain; Inspectors Find Erosion at Banks

Search teams combing the flooded Schoharie Creek on Monday recovered the bodies of three people killed in the collapse of a New York Thruway bridge, and state officials tried to determine whether the swift current had eroded the structure enough to cause the disaster.

Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies found the first body Sunday night. Monday morning, they removed two dead men from a car dragged out of the swift current.

State troopers searching in a helicopter spotted what appeared to be a fourth body in the flooded Mohawk River, into which the creek flows, four miles from the bridge, but it turned out to be only debris.

Authorities identified one of the dead as Douglas Shive, 68, of Manchester, N.H. His body was pulled from the flattened wreckage of his white Cadillac.

Three Niagara Mohawk Power Co. workers, on their way home from a bowling tournament in Syracuse, have not been heard from since early Sunday and are believed to have died in the collapse. Troopers also searched the creek for the driver of a tractor-trailer that also went down with the bridge, state police spokesman Robert Armet said.

Search Rained Out

When heavy rain began falling again at about 6 p.m., police suspended the search until morning.

Police said that the tractor-trailer and perhaps three cars plunged into the water when a 200-foot section of the bridge collapsed into the creek at 10:50 a.m. Sunday.

As helicopter crews continued searching for missing vehicles, a single guard rail remained across the gap where the bridge stood. The bridge lay below in a heap of crumpled green steel and fallen pylons.

Engineers who began inspecting the wreckage of the bridge discovered soil erosion previously hidden by floodwaters. Inspectors examined two of the support columns that rise from either side of the Schoharie Creek closest to the banks. The two middle columns fell with the center of the bridge.

“This bridge didn’t ‘age out,’ ” said Daniel Garvey, chief engineer of the Thruway Authority. “It just got hit with something it couldn’t stand.”

Governor Pledges Action

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo said Monday that the state would replace the bridge as soon as possible, but he also warned that “you can’t get very far until you ascertain the cause of the collapse.”

Thruway spokesman Raymond Makay said replacement of a bridge usually takes two years, but that authorities would try to speed up the work.

Officials said the bridge received several new steel supports and a new deck about two years ago, and was found to be in good condition when last inspected in April, 1986.

Cuomo said that state police made a visual inspection of it last weekend, before the collapse, and decided that it was safe for motorists.

The collapse shut down about 25 miles of the highway, and drivers were taking detours of up to 20 miles on secondary roads.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, visited the site about 35 northwest of Albany Monday and said he will convene hearings on the collapse.