Bridge Collapse Survivors Tell Their Tales

Amid the collapsed concrete, eyes were immediately drawn to one thing: a yellow school bus.

"We ran up the incline. There was a school bus full of 8- to 14-year-olds and we literally had to carry them off the bridge," said one survivor who was on the I-35 highway in Minneapolis when it collapsed into the Mississippi River.

There were 61 people on board the bus; 52 of them, children. They were part of an inner-city youth summer program and were on their way back from a day at a water park.

"Me and about two or three other men were actually taking the kids off the bridge and actually lifting them. … There was screaming, crying. Dust just started coming up everywhere," another bridge survivor said.

For the kids and the adults on the bus, it was a terrifying plummet.

"I just felt the bus go down, then I opened my eyes and I see dust. Everybody was trying to get out. We were all screaming," said Jeisy Aguiza, one of the adults on the bus.

Miraculously, even after falling nearly 65 feet, no one on the bus was seriously injured or killed. All of the children have been safely reunited with their families.

Climbing Death Toll

Various reports have said anywhere four to nine people were killed, and more than 60 were injured in the catastrophe that left a horrific pile of rubble. As many as 20 people are reported missing and city officials expect the death toll to climb as the recovery effort continues today.

Moments after the collapse, the injured were pulled from their cars and rushed to waiting ambulances.

"I fell about 30, 40 feet. On the way down I thought I was dead. I literally thought I was dead," said one survivor who plummeted into the river. "My truck was completely face down. It was folded in half. I can't believe I am alive."

For family members desperate to find loved ones, the search was sometimes frustrating.

"Two of 'em are in here. One's at Robbinsdale [hospital]. We don't know where the other one's at," said a distraught family member who had not been able to locate her sister.

As the recovery resumes today, the city is coming together.

"Our hearts and our prayers go out tonight to the families and the friends of the victims of one of the most tragic nights in the history of Minneapolis," Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said.