An elite team of Navy divers continued to search the murky Mississippi River early Wednesday for victims of the collapse of a Minnesota bridge that killed at least five people. FBI divers also had joined local law enforcement in the effort to recover eight people who remain missing and are presumed dead among the debris, AP reported. The Navy divers returned to the river at 7 a.m. after working until 10 p.m. Tuesday and were doing «a very meticulous, hand-over-hand search of the scene,» said their spokesman, Senior Chief Dave Nagle. The FBI team had to abandon the use of the larger of their two unmanned submarines, Special Agent Paul McCabe said Wednesday. The remote-controlled vehicle _ equipped with a camera, sonar, lights and a grabbing arm _ was too big to maneuver amid the unstable, twisted bridge wreckage and vehicles in the murky water, he said. Instead, FBI divers will use their smaller sub, a shoe box-sized vehicle equipped only with lights and a camera. It also has smaller thrusters which make it more susceptible to the stiff river currents. There was no change overnight in the condition of the only victim of the bridge collapse still in critical condition, said a spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Medical Center. At least seven other victims remained hospitalized. State officials on Tuesday announced tentative plans for the replacement bridge, with five lanes each way instead of four. The new bridge also might be built to accommodate bus rapid transit or light rail in the future. Officials said that they will start narrowing the field of potential contractors this week, and that they hope to select the builder by Sept. 1. The deal will include incentives for early completion.
