Miami, .- The company responsible for the construction of the pedestrian bridge in Miami that fell in 2018 and killed six people reached an agreement with insurers to pay more than 42 million dollars to victims, local media reported Thursday.
The firm Magnum Construction Managemnt, formerly known as Munilla Construction Management (MCM), and which earlier this year filed for bankruptcy, has reached this agreement that represents a step forward in litigation brought by the families of the six victims and of the survivors due to the events that occurred on March 15 of last year.
On that day, six people, including a construction worker, were killed and eight others were injured by the collapse of the bridge using an “accelerated construction” method.
The 174 foot (53 meters) long prefabricated pedestrian bridge collapsed in full light on Calle Ocho, one of Miami’s main thoroughfares.
Its purpose was that the students of the International University of Miami (FIU, in English) could access the campus more safely.
According to the newspaper Miami Herald, Alan Goldfarb, a lawyer for the family of Alexa Durán, a student of that center of studies who lost his life in the event, showed his hope that the agreement, which was entered in a federal court last April 30 and still must be approved by a judge, allow closing the case.
“It is terrible because of what they are going through (relatives), the judicial process has become a second punishment,” he added.
Last November, the US federal agency responsible for investigating transport accidents, NTSB, and which has yet to issue its final report, said that the bridge under construction that collapsed had “design errors.”
The fact has motivated several other lawsuits filed by the victims against firms and institutions involved in the work.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who taught at the FIU, said in a statement on the first anniversary of the event that this “tragedy has left an indelible mark” on the university and community of South Florida.
The FIU “was more than an academic institution for me, it was my home,” said Rubio, who said his office “will continue to closely examine the investigation” of the collapse of the bridge by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). U.S. (EFEUSA)
