A woman who was driving towards a bridge that collapsed in Florida was forced to stop because of a red light, but that moment of pause actually saved her life.
Suzie Bermudez told NBC News that she only stopped because of the red light, but she will forever be grateful for that traffic light because it saved her from the deadly pedestrian bridge collapse at Florida International University.
"I was the first car. If the light would have changed I was three seconds away from being under the bridge," she explained. "I'm very grateful to be alive. Thank God."
Six people lost their lives because of the collapsed bridge while many others were injured, according to CBN News. The 950-ton pedestrian walkway near the Florida university collapsed all of a sudden last Thursday, crushing at least eight cars - some with people trapped inside.
Eyewitnesses described the crash as something like "an explosion." Giovanni Hernandez, who drove under the bridge just minutes before it collapsed, was grateful to have passed by moments before disaster struck.
"It was right behind us, and you know, it could have been us under that bridge," he said. "It's something that they're building, and it's not built correctly yet. Why would you continue building something when there's traffic moving under you?"
Steven Ippoliti, 47, who works in the forecast office on FIU's campus, said it only took a second for the entire bridge to break down, with the north side collapsing first and "the other kind of went down with it."
"I watched it come down in a second," he said. "It didn't even take seconds. It was there and then it was just down. It kind of just left you in awe - like did that really just happen?"
Senator Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette have visited survivors of the accident, including one who is his close friend. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and the National Transportation Safety Board are conducting an investigation into what caused the collapse.
