3 dead, 3 in critical condition after the collapse of the demolished bridge

SIMPSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT/Gray News) – Three people are dead and three are in critical condition after a bridge collapsed in Mississippi.

According to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, a bridge over the Strong River on Highway 149 collapsed Wednesday afternoon in what they called “a workplace accident.”

The bridge has been closed to traffic since September 18 as part of a bridge replacement project.

MDOT says TL Wallace, the project’s contractor, was in the process of demolishing the bridge.

Simpson County Sheriff Paul Mullins told WLBT that he received a call around 2:51 Wednesday afternoon reporting that a bridge near the D’Lo water park had collapsed.

When he got there, the workers had declared that there was a bridge failure, that the bridge had collapsed.

He found a piece of equipment that was defective, along with the bridge to the river.

One of the three victims was still trapped in the rubble, but has since been pulled out at 8:45 p.m.

The sheriff confirmed they were all employees of TL Wallace Construction.

The identities of the workers have not yet been released.

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