As Spring Break Ends, FIU Prepares For Classes, Memorials To Bridge Collapse Victims

WLRN 91.3 FM | By Carli Teproff,

Monique O. Madan

Published March 19, 2018 at 8:46 AM EDT

Six crosses are being held up by rubble from the pedestrian bridge that collapsed at Florida International University as a memorial to the victims.

The beginnings of a memorial to the six people who died in the collapse of a bridge at Florida International University appeared Sunday — a single bouquet of flowers and six small wooden crosses on cords hung from a wall and held in place by pieces of rubble.

Listen to an interview with Miami Herald reporter Monique O. Madan about the collapse of the FIU pedestrian bridge

The impromptu memorial is sure to grow as FIU students return to school from spring break Monday, the first day of classes since the bridge crashed on Thursday. Members of the college community and of the public will be asked to pause at 1:47 p.m. to mark the moment the pedestrian bridge collapsed last week, killing six people and injuring at least nine more.

“It’s going to take time for us and our community to heal,” President Mark Rosenberg said in a video shared Sunday afternoon. “Please join us wherever you are and keep the victims and the families in your thoughts.”

A vigil is scheduled Wednesday on campus.

Also on Sunday, the final victim, Brandon Brownfield, was identified, hours after the last body was removed from under the bridge. Previously, authorities identified the five other people who were killed when the bridge fell on top of cars stopped at a red light: Alexa Duran, the only FIU student who was killed; Navaro Brown, a bridge worker; Osvaldo (Ozzie) González; Alberto Arias; and Rolando Fraga.

Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.