Truck strike may have caused US bridge collapse: Officials

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - A colliding truck may have triggered the collapse on Thursday of part of a four-lane freeway bridge that sent vehicles and drivers tumbling into a frigid river in Washington state, officials said.

A US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into what led part of the Interstate 5 bridge to fall into the Skagit River 55 miles (90 km) north of Seattle was expected to continue on Friday.

Two of the three people rescued from the river were hospitalised with hypothermia, but no one died, officials said.

The freeway is a principal corridor for vehicles between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada, and Washington state Governor Jay Inslee said he expected major traffic delays in the region.

In this photo provided by Francisco Rodriguez, a man is seen sitting atop a car that fell into the Skagit River after the collapse of the Interstate 5 bridge there minutes earlier on Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Mount Vernon, Wash. -- FILE PHOTO: AP