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Three people were killed and several more seriously injured Wednesday when a bridge in Mississippi that was closed nearly a month ago collapsed while a work crew was prepping it for demolition, authorities said.
The bridge over the Strong River on State Route 149 in Simpson County, about 40 miles south of Jackson, had been closed to traffic since Sept. 18 as part of a bridge replacement project, the Mississippi Department of Transportation said in a news release.
Gov. Tate Reeves said in a post on social media late Wednesday that first responders from the county and “other state assets have been on the scene at the tragedy” where they’d confirmed at least three fatalities and multiple injuries.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a social media post late Wednesday that the Federal Highway Administration was “engaging state officials concerning” the “premature collapse during demolition of a bridge on State Route 149 in Mississippi.”
Simpson County Sheriff Paul Mullins had previously told WLBT-TV three people were killed and four critically injured.
Terry Tutor, the Simpson County coroner, told the New York Times that seven men were working on the bridge, using heavy machinery to tear it down, when it gave way and plummeted nearly 40 feet. He said three of the men died, and four were injured, the Times reported.
Mullins and Tutor didn’t immediately respond to messages Wednesday night from The Associated Press.
A call to the construction company, T.L. Wallace Construction, was unanswered Wednesday evening, and it was not possible to leave a message.
Department of Transportation spokesperson Anna Ehrgott said the agency “would share more information with the public as it becomes available.”
The department said one of its inspectors was at the work site when the bridge collapsed, and that person was unharmed.
The U.S. military conducted airstrikes on several Houthi weapons storage facilities in Yemen, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bombers were part of an operation to conduct “precision strikes” on five underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
“U.S. forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region,” Austin said.
Lloyd said he authorized the strikes at the direction of President Biden.
This marks the latest in several such U.S. airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in retaliation for Houthi missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Earlier this month, U.S. Central Command reported that U.S. aircraft and warships had struck 15 targets containing Houthi offensive military capabilities.
The U.S., U.K. and its allies have conducted several rounds of joint strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen dating back to mid-January.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have conducted dozens of missile and drone attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in what it says is a response to the Israel-Hamas war. Those attacks caused major supply chain disruptions worldwide. The Houthis have sank two commercial vessels, and a missile attack in March on a Liberian-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden killed three people.
Houthi militants hijacked an Israeli-linked cargo ship last November, taking crew members hostage.
And in an escalation of events, the Houthis directly struck downtown Tel Aviv with a drone in July which killed one person and injured eight others. That attack prompted Israel to retaliate with its own airstrikes in Yemen.
In his statement Lloyd said that “for over a year” the Houthis “have recklessly and unlawfully attacked U.S. and international vessels transiting the Red Sea, the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis’ illegal attacks continue to disrupt the free flow of international commerce, threaten environmental catastrophe, and put innocent civilian lives and U.S. and partner forces’ lives at risk.”
In January, the Biden administration declared the Houthis to be a “specially designated global terrorist group.”
contributed to this report.
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