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The number of dead stood at five, but authorities credited a rush-hour crawl that gave vehicles little momentum to slide into the river and a bridge design that minimized falling debris with keeping the death toll relatively low.

Officials said the number of bodies believed still trapped in the wreckage, once thought to be as many as 30, likely was no more than eight.

President Bush took an aerial tour of the damage, then went to the scene to speak with a construction worker who helped rescue children after the collapse. Later, he was to meet with victims and their relatives.

Bush noted the determination of the divers "to go under the murky waters to find the facts," but warned that the efforts would take some time.

He also praised the spirit of the many people who rushed to help.

"There's a lot of people here in the Twin Cities whose first instinct was to save the lives of people who were hurting," Bush said.

He pledged that the bridge would be rebuilt as soon as possible.

"We understand this is a main artery of life here, that people count on this bridge, this highway system to get to work," he said.

At a site set up by the Red Cross to offer counseling, about 30 friends and family had been seeking news on five missing motorists, and counselors said they were growing more distressed.

"They've just been waiting for word, any kind of word," Red Cross spokesman Ted Canova said Saturday.

Of the roughly 100 injured in Wednesday's collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, 24 remain hospitalized and only five were critical.

"We were surprised that we didn't have more people seriously injured and killed," Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack told The Associated Press. "I think it was something of a miracle."

Experts said the speed and depth of the water in the river were much lower than normal on the day of the collapse, largely the result of a drought, and that may have made it easier for people to escape.

"It's a horrible, tragic event. But it could have been a hell of a lot worse," said Kent Harries, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the University of Pittsburgh's School of Engineering.

Minnesota officials say they don't yet know how many cars were traveling the span during the collapse. But judging by the length of road, the lanes that were open, time of day and widely accepted traffic formulas, Northwestern University engineering professor Joseph Schofer estimated that 100 to 150 vehicles were on the bridge.

LIST OF MISSING

Police late Saturday released an official list eight people still missing, matching estimates that had been lowered from the hours immediately after the tragedy.

But police also cautioned that the number could still rise because it's possible some victims have not been reported missing. Investigators have names that haven't been connected to the bridge, and divers and recovery workers have found license plate numbers that don't belong to an identified missing person or survivor.

Among the newest names added to the list were Vera Peck and her son, Richard Chit, who were in the same car.

Family members said Richard Chit had Down syndrome, making him virtually inseparable from his mother.

"One of them wouldn't survive without the other so maybe that's just the way it's supposed to be," sister Caroline Chit told MSNBC through tears.

She and her sister said that Richard was 20 and about to turn 21. Authorities listed his age as 21.

The other six are Scott Sathers, 29, who worked at Cappela University, an online school; Christine Sacorafas, 45, a recent transplant to Minnesota who taught Greek folk dancing class; Greg Jolstad, 45, a construction worker who was operating a skid loader on the bridge; Peter Hausmann, 47, a computer security specialist; and Somali immigrant Sadiya Sahal, 23, a pregnant nursing student, and her 2-year-old daughter, Hanah.

Divers found no bodes inside a crushed car pulled earlier Saturday from the murky Mississippi River waters. They were unable to check at least one other car lying beneath another vehicle on the river bottom.

SEARCHING FOR THE CAUSE

Authorities still do not know what caused the collapse. Engineers had theories including heavy traffic and construction work that might have put an undue burden on the span. The bridge was deemed "structurally deficient" by the federal government as far back as 1990.

After the collapse, federal officials ordered states to immediately inspect bridges of similar designs. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Saturday that those inspections hadn't found any immediate problems.

Reports and inspections over the years had raised alarm about the Minnesota bridge, including rust-eaten steel beams, missing bolts and cracks in the welding that held load-bearing parts together.

A consulting company that thoroughly examined the bridge noted that one possible fix -- steel plating of fractures -- carried a "relatively high cost," according to a January report. Transportation officials deny that cost pressures swayed their decisions.

Authorities and engineers agree that the truss-style design of the bridge played a big role in the relatively low number of fatalities. The steel that supported the bridge was below the structure -- as opposed to above the span in more traditional bridge designs.

"I think that was a lifesaving feature," Schofer said. "They had this huge advantage. They weren't crushed by steel."

Clack also praised the rescuers who rushed to the bridge in the chaos after the collapse. Because the bridge was near the heart of downtown, several emergency crews and residents were close by.

Though the collapse occurred during rush hour, the heavy traffic meant the cars were almost stopped and didn't have much momentum, so the collapse was less likely to hurl moving cars into the river, Clack said.

"When the bridge fell, they went straight down," he said.

Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators were particularly interested in learning why a part of the bridge's southern span shifted as it collapsed. That was the only part of the bridge that shifted, and it could help pinpoint the cause.

THE DEAD

The dead were identified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner as:

- Sherry Lou Engebretsen, 60, of Shoreview, who died of multiple blunt force injuries.

- Julia Blackhawk, 32, of Savage, who died of blunt force trauma.

- Patrick Holmes, 36, of Moundsview, who drowned.

- Artemio Trinidad-Mena, 29, of Minneapolis, who died of blunt force injuries and probable drowning.

- Paul Eickstadt, 51, of Mounds View. He was the driver of a tractor-trailer rig that was engulfed in flames immediately after the collapse.

THE COLLAPSE

The center of the 35W bridge was the first part to go, and the rest followed, with the steel beams and supports caving like an accordion as the bridge folded. The entire collapse took just four seconds.

Rescuers told a TV station that they found one man dying in his crushed car. They tried to treat him, but he passed away.

A University of Minnesota student who was with the man as he died told TODAY'S TMJ4 anchor Mike Jacobs that the paramedics told him the victim would not make it. The man was losing so much blood and trapped in his vehicle.

The man asked for privacy and rescuers stepped away as he made two calls to say goodbye, the student said. A firefighter then sat with the man to pray and, according to the student, three-fourths of the way through the prayer, the victim died.

The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of being repaired and two lanes in each direction were closed when the bridge buckled during evening rush hour Wednesday.

"It was a 30- to 50-foot free fall and my truck was completely split in half," said one survivor.

"Our car was at this awful angle, you know, just smashed in, and we were on top of a smaller car," said another survivor.

Survivor Dennis Winegar told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Jay Olstad that he had to hop a median and concrete debris, then walk up the riverbank to get out of his car and off the bridge. He said immediately after the collapse there was total silence.

Wisconsinite Nick Skavlem lives steps away from the bridge and was home at the time of the collapse.

"The whole house basically started shaking for about three to five seconds," the Franklin native said. He drives over the bridge "all the time."

"This easily could have been me or my roommates who drive there every day," he said.

A pair of men from a nearby apartment building said they helped several victims. They told KARE-TV that they carried a bloodied, delusional pregnant woman away from the scene. They also said they saw another man with blood on his face and an apparent broken jaw.

They also said they saw crushed cars, floating cars and one car bent in half.

A FAMILY'S HOPES DASHED

Twenty to 30 people are missing immediately after the collapse. Many of their families gathered in a hotel ballroom in the early morning hours Thursday, waiting for word on loved ones who couldn't be located.

Earlier Thursday, a man whose wife is now one of the four confirmed fatalities and his two daughters had been painfully optimistic that their wife and mother was alive.

Ronald Engebretsen, 57, was searching for his wife, Sherry. His daughter last heard from her when she left work in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday.

"We are left with the hope that there is a Jane Doe in a hospital somewhere that's her," Engebretsen said.

Daughter Jessica said, ""I haven't eaten, I haven't slept, it's just, you can't even explain the feeling."

""It's just kinda surreal, but we gotta stick together and be a family," said Sherry's other daughter, Anne. "That's what she'd want us to do.

"My mom's a fighter. She'll make it," Anne said. "She's a strong woman. She's gonna come back home. She's gonna be home."

Both daughters were adopted from Colombia when they were babies. "I think we are two of the luckiest girls in the nation right now because our parents are wonderful people," Anne said.

"Just please pray, that's all we can ask for," said Jessica. "Just hoping, just be positive and everything will be OK."

Ron said that Sherry took an atypical route home. She usually avoided 35W because of the construction. "And that decision was hers, a decision we all support," he said. "I traveled that bridge for 35 years going into Minneapolis. You have certain feelings about that bridge."

THE AFTERMATH

The bridge collapsed Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. A tractor-trailer caught fire, and flame and black smoke billowed into the sky.

Some people were stranded on parts of the bridge that aren't completely in the water. All survivors stuck on the bridge were removed within three hours of the collapse.

More than 100 people were confirmed injured. The Hennepin County Medical Center sent out an "alert orange" Wednesday night, calling all available, off-duty staff to work. One doctor said there was "blood everywhere."

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Mayor R.T. Rybeck was grateful to those who helped others without having to.

"One thing I know is that the people of Minneapolis are like the people of Milwaukee, at a time like this (they) open their hearts and their arms," he said.

Milwaukee Fire Chief Doug Holton has offered to help Minneapolis officials with the bridge collapse. The chief is willing to send members from Milwaukee's Heavy Urban Response Team to help. Chief Holton is the former fire chief of St. Paul, Minn.

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THE BRIDGE

The bridge was under construction, undergoing resurfacing. Traffic had been reduced to one or two lanes in each direction at the time. An estimated 145,000 cars pass over the bridge every day.

The construction company working on the job, Progressive Contractors, said it has no idea what caused this collapse. Workers had been on the repair project for about six weeks.

Minneapolis' mayor called the highway the most important roadway into the city. Authorities are estimating that at least a year before the bridge could be rebuilt.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the bridge was inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and that no structural problems were noted. "There were some minor things that needed attention," he said.

The steel-arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rose about 64 feet above the river and stretched about 1,900 feet across the river. The bridge was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid putting any piers in the water that might interfere with river navigation.

"There were two lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, at the point of the collapse. Those cars did go into the river," Minneapolis Lt. Huffman. "At this point there is nothing to suggest that this was anything other than a structural collapse."

The highway vaults over a railroad, another road and the river. A tanker train car was trapped under the bridge.

Road crews had been working on the bridge's joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday. In 2001, the bridge had been fitted with a computerized anti-icing system that sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation's Web site.

THE SCHOOL BUS

A burning semi-truck and a school bus clung to one slanted bridge slab.

Fifty-nine children on the school bus around the ages of 9-11 were rescued. Only 14 were taken to area hospitals, and 10 of those were quickly released. Two adults on the bus were also injured.

"I realized the school bus was... right next to me, and me and a couple other guys went over and started lifting the kids off the bridge," said one Good Samaritan. "They were yelling, screaming, bleeding, I think there was some broken bones."

Christine Swift's 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in suburban Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.

"She was screaming, 'The bridge collapsed,"' Swift said.

Swift said a police officer told her all the kids got off the bus safely.

THE INVESTIGATION

The first step of the federal investigation will be to recover pieces of the bridge and reassemble them, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, to try and determine what happened, NTSB Chairman Rosenker said.

Investigators are also reviewing video of the collapse.

In 2005, the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as "structurally deficient" and possibly in need of replacement, according to a federal database. The span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability in that review, White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general last year criticized the Federal Highway Administration's oversight of interstate bridges, saying investigators found incorrect or outdated maximum weight limit calculations and weight limit postings in the National Bridge Inventory and in states' bridge databases.

Incorrect load ratings could endanger bridges by allowing heavier vehicles to cross than should be allowed, the inspector general said. The audit didn't identify any Minnesota bridges beyond noting that 3 percent of the state's bridges were structurally deficient, placing it at the low end among states.

Pawlenty said Thursday that there was no indication from that and other reviews that the bridge should be shut down. Peters added, "None of those ratings indicated there was any kind of danger."

OTHER BRIDGE COLLAPSES

Fortunately, bridge collapses are rare in this country and elsewhere. One of the worst collapses in recent memory came in 2002, when a barge hit a bridge in Oklahoma, sending a 500-foot section into the Arkansas River. Fourteen people died in that disaster.

In Milwaukee back in 2000, a section of the Hoan Bridge almost collapsed when two steel guarders cracked, closing the bridge for months.

Engineers blamed design flaws in part for that failure. Widely accepted engineering practices at the time later proved unreliable. The 35W bridge was built about the same time as the Hoan.

Investigators there say it's still too early to tell why the bridge fell.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jamie Winegar of Houston said she was sitting in traffic when all of a sudden she started hearing "boom, boom, boom and we were just dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping."

The car she was riding in landed on top of a smaller car but did not fall into the water. She said her nephew yelled, "'It's an earthquake!' and then we realized the bridge was collapsing."

Melissa Hughes, 32, of Minneapolis said she was driving home across the bridge when she went down when the western edge in the collapse.

"You know that free fall feeling? I felt that twice," said Hughes, who was not injured.

A pickup ended up on top of her car, partially crushing the top and back end.

"I had no idea there was a vehicle on my car," she said. "It's really very surreal."

Ramon Houge told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he was on his way home from work on the bridge when heard a rumbling noise, saw the ground collapse and cars go down.

Traffic was tightly congested and hundreds of people would have been involved, he said. He said cars backed up as best they could and he parked in a construction zone and was finally able to turn around and drive off the bridge. "It didn't seem like it was real," he said.

Gregory Wernick Sr., Rockford, Ill., drove over the bridge shortly before the collapse. He stopped to get a drink nearby and heard commotion so he went back.

"I figure I crossed about 10 minutes before it happened," he said. "That's just too close to call."

He was standing about 200 feet away on top of a parking ramp with large group of people.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said.