MIAMI — For the latest on the bridge collapse in Miami, read Friday’s live updates.

The graceful pedestrian bridge was swung into place on Saturday. Heralded as a triumph of “accelerated construction,” the walkway would allow pedestrians to safely cross eight lanes of traffic separating the campus of Florida International University from the small city where many of the students lived.

Five days later, around midday Thursday, the walkway collapsed in a pile of 950 tons of metal, concrete and dust, before ever opening to pedestrians. At least six people were killed, according to the Miami-Dade County police. Some reports put the number of dead a high as 10.

Cars were caught under the bridge when a stoplight turned red at a nearby intersection. Eight of them could be seen poking out from the rubble, in a scene that resembled the aftermath of an earthquake.

“I heard what sounded to me like a sonic boom from an aircraft which shook the ground below,” said Kurt Baker, a student at the university who had just exited the Florida Turnpike.