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Minneapolis (WCCO) ― At least five people were killed and around 111 injured when the Interstate 35W bridge plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River on Wednesday afternoon. That brings the number of injured to far more than the 79 people originally reported.

For more than a decade the state of Minnesota has known of problems with the metal holding up the Interstate 35W bridge.

Because of this, the bridge was inspected annually but no additional cracking was found. A 2006 report recommended the bridge be reinforced with steel plating, but the state asked for more options. State officials say money concerns never trump safety.

"If you really believe any of us would compromise the safety of the motoring public you are in wrong place because we would not," said Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau.

At a News conference Friday evening Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said it is inknown how many cars were on the bridge during the collapse or how many victims were in the vehicles. Officials figure there could be as many as 50 cars in the Mississippi River.

They say it is a tedious process to locate each vehicle, navigate the water and search inside the cars. Search teams were planning to be on the river until 8 p.m. Friday night and start again Saturday morning

More bodies had been spotted in the fast-moving currents, which were "even more treacherous" Friday than a day earlier, Hennepin County Sheriff Stanek said.

Fears are eased a bit Friday as authorities said the number of missing, once thought to be as many as 30, was just eight.

Among those listed as missing is Sadiya Sahal, who was five months pregnant, and her 2-year-old daughter Hanah Mohamed.

Fourteen people were still at Hennepin County Medical Center, where most of the victims were taken, with five of them still in critical condition, spokeswoman Kathy Roberts said Friday.

Sheriff's Capt. Bill Chandler said Friday afternoon that conditions turned out to be better than expected, partly because the Army Corps of Engineers was regulating the water level to help alleviate the current. The department also was limiting how deep divers went to keep them from the heaviest debris.

Crews planned to focus on 13 areas on the upstream side of the collapse, including four vehicles that were partially submerged and had been checked briefly Wednesday or Thursday, he said.

Captain Robert Aldrich of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office says dive teams could be on the scene for several weeks, recovering remains and clearing debris.

Many families and friends are still waiting to get official word on what happened to their loved ones but conditions in the river are making it very hard for divers to get those answers, as crews enter another day of combing the bottom of the Mississippi River.

The fifth victim has been identivied as Paul Eickstadt, a 51-year-old from Mounds View who worked for the Sara Lee Bakery in Roseville.

He was the driver of a tractor-trailer rig that was engulfed in flames immediately after the collapse. He was pulled from the wreckage late Thursday, Fire Department spokeswoman Kristi Rollwagen said. Video of the fire was among the most compelling images shown in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.

Aldrich said his team worked 24 hours straight after the bridge collapsed Wednesday evening. His 20-person dive unit has joined with other law enforcement dive units in the area, including those from Hennepin County.

As dusk fell on Minneapolis Thursday evening, more than 24 hours since the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River bridge, divers in the rescue effort were pulled from the scene, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

The names of the people confirmed killed in the collapse are Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage, Minn.; Patrick Holmes, 36, of Mounds View, Minn.; Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis; and Sherry Engebretsen, 60, of Shoreview, Minn.

Meanwhile, the initial number of people missing in the collapse was downgraded from an initially estimated 20 to a possible eight, according to Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek.

At least 79 people were injured.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office said their efforts will now focus mostly on the area of the Mississippi River upstream of the collapse site with recovery efforts resuming Friday at the tentative time of 8:30 a.m.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty declared a peacetime emergency for the state of Minnesota, activating the State Emergency Operations Center in the wake of the collapse of a major bridge thoroughfare in downtown Minneapolis around 6:05 p.m. Wednesday.

The emergency will remain in effect indefinitely, while state agencies provide assistance to the recovery effort at the scene of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis.

The Coast Guard has also closed a nine-mile stretch of the Mississippi River in response to the collapse. In addition, a rescue helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Air Station in Traverse City, Michigan and the Coast Guard Auxiliary in St. Paul have been deployed to the scene to conduct search and rescue operations.

Meanwhile, President Bush announced he plans to travel on Saturday to Minneapolis.

The American Red Cross has been on hand to provide mental health assistance to those on the scene and has also provided crews with more than 2,500 meals.

Earlier Thursday, Pawlenty also said he ordered an immediate inspection of all Minnesota bridges similar to the one that collapsed. At a Thursday afternoon press conference, Pawlenty cited three bridges in St. Cloud, Sandstone and Osceola, Minn.

Two of those three bridges -- Highway 23 over the Mississippi near St. Cloud and Highway 123 over the Kettle River near Sandstone -- have already been inspected. The third, Highway 243 in Osceola, will be inspected on Friday.

Federal officials alerted states Thursday to immediately inspect all bridges similar to the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters signed off on an advisory that was sent by the Federal Highway Administration urging state transportation departments to conduct inspections of bridges similar to the steel-deck truss bridge that collapsed Wednesday.

The eight-lane bridge was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled, sending people, cars and hundreds of tons of concrete plunging more than 60 feet into the river.

"This is going to take a long time," Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said Thursday morning. Crews searching in the river and through the debris will do so slowly and safely, Dolan reiterated.

Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said his office sent 15 divers into the water about 100 feet downstream of the collapse Thursday morning. Stanek said those divers will be checking out four cars that are submerged in the water. Stanek said his office knows there are more cars in the water, but engineers have determined only the four selected cars are safe for divers to check right now.

The water level in the area has also been reduced from nine feet to seven feet to assist the divers, through the lock and dam system. Stanek said his office did not know if there were any bodies in the water.

Doctors at Hennepin County Medical Center said their hospital received 24 patients relating to the bridge collapse Wednesday night. Of those people, 1 died, 5 are in critical condition, 10 are in satisfactory condition and 8 were treated and released. HCMC treated five children and all are in stable condition.

Doctors said the person who died had chest injuries consistent with falling 64 feet in a vehicle. That person was one of the first transported from the scene and died at HCMC.

North Memorial Medical Center treated a total of nine patients, four or five of which were children. Seven people were treated and released. Two adults were admitted to NMMC and are in serious condition.

Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said the death toll could rise. He said officials could see at least 50 vehicles in the water.

"We think there are several more vehicles in the river we can't see yet," he said, adding that the likelihood of finding survivors was slim. At 1 a.m. Thursday, crews called off the search for victims, saying it wasn't safe to work though the night because of darkness, river currents and debris in the river, including concrete and rebar wire.

A Tastee bread semi truck caught on fire on the collapsed bridge. Fire crews had to run hoses for several blocks to try to put out the fire.

The bridge crushed a train that was traveling under the bridge at the time of the collapse. Freeway signs also fell during the collapse, smashing cars.

Several hundred people climbed to the top of the hill in nearby Gold Medal Park, which offered a partially blocked view of the collapsed bridge. A few cried, while others stood in circles and prayed.

On the bridge, some people got out of their cars and went to help others. Several people helped 60 children escape a school bus that was caught in the wreckage. Several people from a nearby apartment building got to the collapse site before emergency personnel.

Firefighters swam from car to car to look for survivors in the Mississippi River Wednesday evening. Clack said a lot of spaces around the collapsed bridge are hard to get into. Structural engineers will tell rescuers when it is safe to go into those area.

"Obviously, this is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty. "And right now we are focused on making sure that we are doing everything to respond to the needs of those individuals that may have been harmed in this incident."

Pawlenty said the collapse was likely structural in nature and said it was not an act of terrorism.

The bridge was undergoing repair work when it collapsed. Of the eight lanes on the roadway, four were closed for repair to the 40-year-old bridge's deck, joints, guardrails and lights.

This was a stretch of road more than 140,000 people used everyday and it's going to be a long time before those people will use it again as officials say the investigation into what went wrong will take at least one year.

"None of it would be related to the structure," said Bob McFarlin, assistant to Minnesota Transportation Commissioner Carol Molnau.

Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc. said his company had 18 workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse and one was unaccounted for on Wednesday night. Three were hospitalized, while several others were treated for minor injuries, he said.

The Minneapolis Red Cross has set up a hotline for concerned family members. That number is (612) 871-7676. The Red Cross have reported that they have enough donated blood at the moment.

Governor Tim Pawlenty and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak announced that an Interfaith Prayer Service will be held on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. at St. Mark's Cathedral in Downtown Minneapolis for members of the public, first responders, and the families and victims of the Interstate 35W bridge tragedy.

The interfaith prayer service will include a collection to be taken for relief efforts including the victims and families of the bridge tragedy.

Memorial Blood Centers are also accepting walk-in donations Thursday. Their centers open at 9 a.m., but people are encouraged to make an appointment by calling 1-800-GIVE-BLD or 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.

The NTSB requested anyone with personal information, including photos and video footage of the collapse, contact them at 1-866-328-6347.

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