Pedestrian Span Collapses After Being Rocked; 5 Die

A pedestrian bridge with as many as 50 people on it collapsed Saturday afternoon, killing five people and seriously injuring 18, after some rocked the span back and forth, authorities said.

One other person was believed missing after the 50-foot-high, 200- to 300-foot-long steel suspension bridge fell into the Little Red River in north-central Arkansas, said Wayne Milligan of the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office.

Rescue crews used chain saws and cranes to remove the tangled remains of the 77-year-old bridge as darkness fell.

There were 30 to 50 people on the popular bridge, including members of a church group from nearby Prim for their annual meeting and a Boy Scout troop, when the accident occurred, officials said.

Some of the people rocked the span, Milligan said. “The cable on the upstream side broke and the bridge fell to one side. The other cable broke, and the whole thing came down,” he said.

“I had just gotten here, and they were rocking the bridge,” said Daniel Rafferty of Seymour, Mo., who was part of the Free Holiness church group. “We thought it was kind of fun, and it scared some people.”

The collapse “just happened so quickly that no one had a chance to cry for help,” he said. “ . . . They didn’t know what happened. It was pure terror. Arms were flailing. People were panicking. Everyone was trying to save themselves.”

Eighteen people were taken to Cleburne County Memorial Hospital in Heber Springs, 5 miles northwest of the bridge, hospital administrator George Fray said.

“Most of the injuries were broken bones,” he said.

Nine people were hospitalized, including three who were transferred to a hospital in Little Rock nearly 60 miles to the southeast and three who went to a hospital in Searcy nearly 20 miles southeast of Heber Springs, Fray said. The remaining nine were treated and released.

Ambulances from three neighboring counties helped take the injured to hospitals, county dispatcher Gary Hooten said.

“At first, there were so many injured, people were taking them to the hospital in personal cars and police cars,” Hooten said.

The bridge was built in 1912, Milligan said. It was closed to vehicles in 1972.

“It was kept as a walking bridge,” said Polly Burkeen, whose Swinging Bridge Boat Dock sits below the span. “It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places four years ago.”