Originally Posted by CBC

Five people were killed when a highway overpass collapsed in Laval, north of Montreal, sending tonnes of concrete onto two cars, police said on Sunday.

Three of the victims were in one of the cars, while two were in a second vehicle.

Crane operators recovered the wrecked cars early Sunday after crews worked for nearly 15 hours to clear tonnes of rubble.

They loaded the vehicles onto a flatbed truck and took them to a municipal garage. They were crushed so badly they barely reached the knees of one firefighter on the scene.

Debris fell ahead of collapse

Reports say people saw chunks of concrete falling from the overpass, about one hour before it crumbled around 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Transport Quebec spokesman Mario St-Pierre told a Montreal newspaper, the Gazette, a maintenance crew was dispatched to the scene to clean up the pieces of concrete that had fallen.

"Portions of structures like this fall off all the time and most of the time that does not affect the stability of the bridge," he told the paper.

A stretch of three lanes of the viaduct, part of Boulevard de la Concorde, gave way, dropping onto Highway 19 below, causing six vehicles and a motorcycle on the overpass to plunge 15 metres.

Spinal column injuries

Six people were injured, two critically. Three of the four adults undergoing treatment at Sacré-Coeur Hospital in Montreal suffered vertebral fractures, Dr. Jacques Laplante told reporters.

One of the injured underwent surgery Sunday morning, while another was to undergo an operation later in the day, he said.

Robert Hotte of Laval was driving east on Boulevard de la Concorde when his car fell to the highway below. He and his girlfriend escaped with minor injuries.

"It was like a roller-coaster ride. I saw just in front of me the bridge collapsing," he told CBC News. "Then it became all dark. We managed to get out from my side window."

Renata Isopo, who lives a few houses away from the overpass, said the collapse sounded like an earthquake.

"It was something like a huge rock rolling down, just making one enormous thump — making the houses shake," she said.

Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt told CBC News the bridge was 35 years old and there was no reason to suspect problems.

"Buses were going on it, trucks, everybody was going on it every day. The bridge had been inspected less than a year ago."

This is the second bridge to come down in Laval in seven years. In 2000, an overpass under construction collapsed, killing one man. Inspectors are now checking all bridges in the area to make sure they are sound.