Goodness of Minneapolis.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)

The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis on August I made news headlines around the world. As we go to press, the official death toll stands at nine, with several more still missing. However, such emergency situations often cause our fellow humans to react swiftly and heroically. Here are a few such examples:

Following a 911 call, Sergeant Ed Nelson and two other police officers were among the first to arrive at the south side of the I-35W bridge. The officers could hardly believe what they saw.

"I don't think anybody quite expected the scene we encountered," Sergeant Nelson told reporters at a news conference held afterwards. "It was utter chaos at that time--bridge smoking, dust in the air.... We knew it was a bad, very bad situation."

Acting instantly, Nelson and a fellow officer cast off their gun belts and radios and climbed onto a section of the bridge that had fallen into the river, along with countless vehicles and people. Some people were still in their vehicles: others were clinging to bridge girders or had fallen into the river.

As the officers crawled along one of the bridge beams, it shifted, and they could hear rivets popping, but also the victims' cries for help.

"We were forced to make a decision: Do we stand back and watch, or do we take action?" Nelson said, in a report carried by CNN. "It's not a place that I would care to go again, but you take a calculated risk and you do your job."

As additional rescue workers arrived, they placed victims with possible back injuries on boards to carry them to safety. Nelson related: "Basically, we just told them to be calm. A couple of girls were somewhat hysterical. They couldn't understand how they got to that point, l just explained to them that they fell. They seemed somewhat amazed by that fact."