佛羅里達步行橋工程師早知已有裂縫

Officials in the state of Florida say the lead engineer responsible for a pedestrian bridge that collapsed this week left a voicemail for a state official two days before the accident warning of “some cracking.”

The Florida Department of Transportation said the voicemail was not retrieved until Friday because the state transportation official to whom the message was directed was out of the office on assignment.

According to a transcript of the call released by the department, the engineer with the private contractor FIGG Bridge Group said he did not consider the cracking on the bridge a safety issue.

“Obviously the cracking is not good,” he said, adding that something would have to be done to repair it.

Earlier Friday, authorities in Florida said the death toll from the collapsed pedestrian bridge on the campus of Florida International University had risen to six people. They said the toll is expected to climb as searchers dig through rubble, where several cars remain buried.

Local Police Department acknowledged a homicide investigation is under way but described as premature reports that criminal charges are imminent.

At least nine people were injured when the bridge.美國佛羅里達州的官員說，負責本星期坍塌步行橋的項目工程師在事故發生前兩天曾經給一名州政府官員電話留言，警告說“有裂縫”。

佛羅里達運輸部說，這個電話留言星期五才發現，因爲收留言的州政府運輸官員正好因公出差。

根據州運輸部公佈的電話留言，私營承包商費格橋樑集團的工程師說，他不認爲步行橋上的裂縫是安全問題。不過他說，有裂縫肯定不好，必須進行修復。

佛羅里達當局星期五早些時候說，佛羅里達國際大學校園的步行橋坍塌造成的死亡人數已上升到6人，還說隨着搜救人員在廢墟中搜索幾輛被埋的汽車，死亡人數可能更多。

當地警方證實，已經開始過失殺人的調查，但是說有關將提出刑事指控的報道並不屬實。

步行橋坍塌還造成至少9人受傷。