The Quebec government will hold a public inquiry into the collapse of a highway overpass in Laval, north of Montreal, that sent tonnes of concrete on to two cars, crushing five people to death. 

Three of the victims — all adult members of the same family — were in one of the cars, while two were in the second vehicle, police said Sunday.

Five people were killed and six were injured when the overpass collapsed.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

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

"We knew that nobody could survive the impact of that structure on top of their vehicles, which were completely squashed at that point," Quebec provincial police spokesman Jayson Gauthier said Sunday.

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

Couple had young son

Police identified three of the five dead as: Jean-Pierre Hamel, 40; his partner, Sylvie Beaudet, 40; and his brother Gilles, 44.

In the Laval neighbourhood where Hamel and Beaudet lived with their eight-year-old son, neighbour José Viveiros said he wondered Saturday why the couple hadn't picked up their son from a hockey game. Only later did he learn the boy had lost his mother and father.

"It's so sad," he told the CBC on Sunday. "An eight-year-old child, and now …"   

Debris fell ahead of collapse  

Chunks of concrete were seen falling from the overpass before it collapsed at about 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, reports said.

An inspector was dispatched to the scene to clean up the pieces of concrete that had fallen about an hour before the overpass suddenly dropped, Quebec Transportation Minister Michel Després confirmed on Sunday.

He said the official collected the debris, but didn't order the closure of the overpass.

A stretch of three lanes of the viaduct, part of Boulevard de la Concorde, gave way, dropping onto Highway 19 below, causing three 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 there was no reason to suspect problems on the 35-year-old bridge.

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

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.

The province also announced Sunday it had closed a second overpass of similar design and age.