Bridge Follow-Up

Local workers injured in yesterday`s bridge collapse are back home. The bridge was on the stretch of highway-96 in Cherokee County,which is currently under construction. Four of the men who were on the bridge when it fell 30 feet yesterday in Cherokee County, were treated and released from the hospital. A fifth man had to stay overnight for observation. He suffered a cut lip, two cut ears and a hair line fracture. Safety crews spent the day at the site inspecting the cause of the accident. No cause has been deteremined,but everyone agrees if the workers hadn`t been wearning the safety harnesses,the accident could have been a lot worse. "Yeah ten years ago we wouldn`t of hard any of that stuff. People would have been 35 feet in the air jumping and had broken arms, legs and stuff.Where we didn`t have that on this,"said Harmon Wolken, Bridge Foreman. "I have to commend the crew they all just jumped right in did everything they were supposed to do. We had two foreman on the job one of the foreman went strength to the injured man and kept him quiet and still did what he was trained to do in his first aid class,"said Al Bond, Beachner Safety Director. The safety crew is taking digital pictures of the bridge to send to the manufacturer. Those pictures will help determine if the project should be scrapped or if the bridge can go back up. Reported By: Brad Douglas