37-year-old construction worker, FIU student among victims of Florida bridge collapse

Navaro Brown, 37, was among three VSL Structural Technologies workers injured.

ByJulia Jacobo
March 17, 2018, 1:39 AM

A 37-year-old construction worker and a Florida International University student are among the victims of the Florida bridge collapse that killed at least six people on Thursday.

Navaro Brown was one of three workers from VSL Structural Technologies working at the bridge when the massive structure crumbled to the busy Miami street below, spokesman Mike Biesiada told ABC News.

Brown was killed, and his two colleagues are in the hospital, Biesiada said.

VSL Structural Technologies is a concrete support supplier and installer whose product was used during construction, Biesiada said.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department personnel and other rescue units work at the scene where a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University on March 15, 2018 in Miami.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department personnel and other rescue units work at the scene where a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University on March 15, 2018 in Miami.

In addition to Brown, 18-year-old FIU student Alexa Duran was also killed in the collapse. Duran was driving her SUV under the bridge when the collapse occurred, her sister Dina told ABC News.

The bridge was erected last weekend and was touted by Florida International University to be the first of its kind. It stretched over Southwest 8th Street on the FIU campus at 109th Street, a busy intersection where a student was killed last year while crossing the street.

PHOTO: A crane is seen near a newly installed pedestrian bridge, that collapsed, over a six-lane highway in Miami, March 15, 2018.
A crane is seen near a newly installed pedestrian bridge, that collapsed, over a six-lane highway in Miami, March 15, 2018.

Two members of the Sweetwater Police Department who were among the first to arrive at the scene said they found four unconscious construction workers in the rubble and attempted to revive them, they told ABC News.

Sgt. Adrian Mesa and Sgt. Jenna Mendez said they used backboards to pull the workers off the bridge.

It is unclear if the VSL employees were among those Mesa and Mendez pulled out.

PHOTO: Vehicles are seen trapped under the collapsed pedestrian bridge that was newly built over southwest 8th street allowing people to bypass the busy street to reach Florida International University, March 15, 2018 in Miami.
Vehicles are seen trapped under the collapsed pedestrian bridge that was newly built over southwest 8th street allowing people to bypass the busy street to reach Florida International University, March 15, 2018 in Miami. Reports indicate that there are an unknown number of fatalities as a result of the collapse, which crushed at least five cars.

The death toll may rise as responders work to sift through the wreckage and potentially find more victims inside crushed vehicles, officials said on Friday.

"The engineers are working at it in a very tactical way," Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, said in a press conference. "The structure is fragile and could be dangerous to rescue personnel."

The cause of the collapse remains under investigation.

ABC News' Emily Shapiro, Rachel Katz, Stephanie Wash and Victor Oquendo contributed to this report.