The Nation - News from April 5, 1989

Divers working in the swift, murky waters of the Hatchie River found the body of an eighth victim of the collapse of a federal highway bridge near Covington, Tenn., ending a three-day search for those killed in the disaster. Gov. Ned McWherter defended state inspectors who checked the 55-year-old bridge in February but failed to fully examine pillars that gave way and caused the span to fall. “The water just scoured out around the pillars and it just fell in,” he said. McWherter said he had no plans to order any changes in the way bridges are inspected in Tennessee or to increase the number of inspectors. A 90-foot section of the U.S. Highway 51 bridge collapsed Saturday, sending a tractor-trailer rig and four cars into the river.