Minneapolis falls silent for victims of bridge collapse

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- From parks to the banks of the Mississippi River, people across Minneapolis on Tuesday paused to remember those who died in last week's bridge disaster as the search intensified for more victims.

Mayor R.T. Rybak and the City Council asked residents to observe a minute of silence at 6:05 p.m. (7:05 p.m. ET), the moment when the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed during rush hour Wednesday.

The silence ended a minute later when the city's places of worship began tolling their bells. The Minneapolis City Hall and Courthouse clock tower's bells also tolled.

Some mourners threw flowers into the Mississippi, The Associated Press reported. At least eight bodies are believed to be lodged in the debris in the river.

Public mourning will continue Wednesday, exactly one week after the collapse.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise to sunset. "We pray for the recovery of the injured and ask all Minnesotans to help comfort the families and friends of the victims who are suffering unimaginable pain," Pawlenty said in his proclamation.

A newly released video shows the chaotic moments just after the disaster.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic camera was pointed away from the bridge when it collapsed, but it showed traffic traveling toward the span suddenly coming to a halt as drivers realized something was terribly wrong.

Moments later, the camera swung around until it showed a vast gap where the bridge stood minutes before. Panicked drivers just feet away from the drop can be seen jumping out of their cars and running away. Watch 'traffic cam' video of the chaos just moments after the bridge collapse »

Five people are confirmed dead in the disaster. But at least eight are still missing and authorities have said that number could rise.

The victims are probably trapped in the bridge wreckage because unhindered bodies would have floated to the surface within 24 hours, officials said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, whose department is in charge of the dive operation, described an emotional and somber visit Monday night with families still waiting for word about their loved ones. See photos of bridge memorials »

"As we continue our work, the families understand that we're taking great care to keep our divers safe and that this is a slow and methodical process," Stanek said.

There are 16 Navy and 13 FBI divers exploring the bridge wreckage. The FBI divers specialize in the retrieval of bodies and evidence, while the Navy team is expert in salvage, according to Stanek. They're working under "hazardous and treacherous" conditions, he said.

The Navy effort will include a small unmanned submarine that can investigate places too dangerous to send a diver.

"They're determining the optimum points of entry into the wreckage, and as they discover findings, they relay that both to the FBI and to the [Hennepin County] Sheriff's Office," Navy Senior Chief David Nagle told reporters.

"And we regroup and then take the next steps as appropriate under the direction of the sheriff on how he wants to continue based on the findings," Nagle added.

Divers aren't using scuba gear because it could get torn or caught on the huge chunks of concrete and the twisted hulks of cars that fell off the bridge, he said.

A second car was pulled from the river Tuesday to make room for the naval dive operation, according to Capt. Bill Chandler of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department. The occupants of that car were "safely accounted for," he said.

Meanwhile, crews began positioning heavy equipment to clear the debris. Carl Bolander and Sons, a demolition contractor in adjacent St. Paul, won a quickly awarded state contract to remove the tons of concrete and steel from the Mississippi River. The Minnesota Department of Transportation estimates the cleanup will cost $15 million.

Bolander will use four cranes: One on each bank of the river, one on a barge and one at an unloading site, the department said. The cleanup will begin on land and then move into the water, the agency said.

Stanek said Monday that investigators have identified seven vehicles that fell from the bridge Wednesday evening, but he said additional vehicles could be buried under "the tons and tons and tons" of debris left when the eight-lane bridge fell 60 feet into the water.

A paramedic from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, told CNN affiliate WSMV that he happened to be attending a Homeland Security conference at a building near the bridge when the disaster occurred.

"I felt a rumble. It was a large rumble. I'm in a 14-story building, and large rumbles don't happen in 14-story buildings," Joe Reed, assistant director of Rutherford County emergency management, told WSMV.

Reed ran to help, kicked off his shoes and jumped into the water. He helped save lives, including a woman with a broken leg who was thrown into the water. He also helped get children off a school bus.

"As a responder it changes the way you look at things, and how sometimes you react," he said.

On Monday, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators planned to begin computer analyses to try to determine how the structure fell into the river.

Construction crews resurfacing the I-35W bridge reported the structure began to wobble as they removed pavement from it, the severity of the wobble increasing as they took up more concrete.

"We're going to be looking at that entire area where the construction was being done," said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the NTSB.

NTSB experts would be doing computer analysis of the loads placed on the bridge during the construction, Rosenker said.

The NTSB chief said it could take weeks to get a detailed analysis of the bridge superstructure that tumbled into the water.

Commuters have been offered free bus rides and encouraged to carpool while taking alternate routes to I-35W.

President Bush on Monday signed a bill authorizing $250 million for the rebuilding of the bridge, waiving the $100 million limitation for such emergencies. E-mail to a friend

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